As you go about your daily life, the concept of soil health may not necessarily be on your radar. And yet, our longevity as humans is inextricably connected to the quality of the soil in which our food is grown. Soil is a dynamic living ecosystem with a unique combination of minerals and organic matter. Would you believe that a mere gram of dirt can contain as many as 50,000 species? And they are all busily interacting with each other to keep their soil habitat healthy and productive.
If you’ve been starting to hear more about this issue lately, it is because soil quality is failing across the world, which is largely because intensive agriculture, especially mono-cropping, has greatly strained our soil. Mono-cropping is the practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land, as is commonly the case with corn, soybeans and wheat. When you also factor in erosion, pollution, climate change and other factors, we are losing fertile soil faster than nature can replenish it. This means our food contains fewer nutrients, and our farms grow less productive with each generation of crops.
While we might imagine soil to be indestructible, it is not. On the contrary, it is remarkably fragile, especially topsoil, which is used to grow 95 percent of our food. Topsoil is the primary layer of soil, and because it is so rich in nutrients and organic matter, it is crucially important for plant growth. It also offers structural support to expanding plant roots while hosting a dense community of active microorganisms that help break down plant matter and recycle nutrients.
Unfortunately, our precious topsoil is disappearing ten times faster than it is being replaced. This poses a threat to livelihoods and communities as well as our national food supply. Nor is there a quick fix to this glaring problem, as it takes many years to create an inch of fertile topsoil. Great civilizations have collapsed because they failed to prevent the degradation of the soil on which they were founded.
All of this speaks to our need for an agricultural approach that mirrors the efficient cycling in natural ecosystems. If we can manage this, we have a fighting chance to achieve lasting food and environmental security. So, what can we best counter the problem of diminishing soil quantity?
Soil Health: Why It Matters & How You Play a Part
One answer is to emphasize
regenerative farming techniques, in which we allow ourselves to be guided by nature’s balance in the ecosystem. While conventional agriculture depletes soil, regenerative agriculture replenishes it. Instead of synthetic fertilizers, the regenerative approach aligns with nature to maintain healthy soil ecosystems. Learn more here about
Reaping the Benefits of Regenerative Agriculture.
To enhance soil biodiversity and protect precious topsoil, we need to cultivate more perennial crops, which remain rooted in the soil, combined with low or no till practices. Trees are a great case in point, as they help to anchor the soil in place, enabling it to better absorb and retain vital rainfall. We would also ideally phase out synthetic/chemical fertilizers in favor of natural alternatives that support nutrient-rich soil and do not contaminate our national water supplies or harm wildlife.
The role of composting in soil health
What can you do to improve soil health in your own garden or landscape? One of the best ways to give soil a regenerative makeover on any size parcel is
composting. That’s because the composting process creates an environment in which materials evolve into a topsoil-like substance that delivers nutrients to growing plants. Incorporating compost also helps improve the soil pH, protecting your plants from common diseases.
Additionally, composting is the best way to deeply aerate your soil, as organic matter nourishes microbial life and earthworms, who tunnel through the garden soil to facilitate drainage and aeration. If you want to better understand the mechanics and benefits of composting, you might like this
Beginner’s Guide to At-Home Composting. Maybe you want to learn about
Composting With Worms or
How to Compost if You Don’t Have a Yard.
Additional ways you can improve soil health
In addition to composting, it is, again, well advised to avoid chemical/synthetic fertilizers which can destroy soil ecosystems. The good news is that if you are composting, you are also fertilizing. Commercial fertilizer may contain nutrients to support plant growth, but compost goes even further, providing nutrients and also improving soil structure and quality. The healthier soil is, the more resilient it will be in the face of heavy storms, drought and other environmental conditions. If you want to continually improve the soil quality where you live, these ideas can help:
- Determine what may be missing or depleted – You can find soil testing kits online or at garden supply stores to help you to assess nutritional deficiencies in your soil. Look for kits that enable you to determine soil pH, and which indicate your levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and sulfur. Amend soil as necessary to reassert a healthy balance.
- Take advantage of cover crops – You might not think of cover crops when it comes to your own garden, but it may be wise to do so. Establishing cover crops in winter helps to nourish and improve soil quality by preventing erosion, inhibiting weed growth, and minimizing soil compaction throughout the colder months. This means you can simultaneously protect your topsoil and create a free source of winter veggies! Low maintenance winter cover crops include turnips, kale, radishes and collards greens.
- Rotate what you grow – In a clever case of working smarter rather than harder, you are automatically engaging in crop rotation when you cultivate winter cover crops, such as radishes and kale?especially if you usually grow spring and summer produce like strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in the same soil. Alternating what you grow annually helps to ensure that disease pests die out naturally when their preferred crop is no longer available in your garden. If you have grown the same produce for several years in a row, plant new items for spring to phase out existing soil pathogens.
- Mulch in all seasons – Do not be a fair-weather mulcher! As you may know, mulching is a gardening technique that involves covering soil with organic material?such as leaves, grass, twigs, bark, wood chips or lawn clippings?to support soil health and encourage new growth. This practice is important in every season, as mulch acts as protection and insulation, shielding your plants from heat and cold. Mulching also helps soil retain its moisture and prevents weed growth. And, when mulch decomposes, it adds organic matter to your garden soil, thereby boosting soil fertility. Not bad for free material!
- Manage weeds year-round – You may weed in the warmer months but let your garden go during winter. If so, consider staying on top of weeds even when the temperature begins to drop. Weeding helps eliminate competition for the nutrients that your plants need to thrive. Unwelcome plants negatively impact your garden in winter as well as other seasons, as they drain nutrients from the soil. In yet another case of working smarter rather than harder, once you pull weeds, you can simply leave them, and you have automatically incorporated valuable mulch to preserve soil moisture.
Like all living things, soil needs loving care and attention to thrive. Not only is soil a priceless resource, it is also the key to sustaining life on earth. Let’s take individual and collective action to support our soils with all they need to become healthy, productive, sustainable ecosystems?as nature intended.
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