A Gardener’s Relationship with Soil

As gardeners, we feel like we grow plants. But we don’t. At least, that’s not the whole picture—or even the most important part of it.

The wisest insight green-thumbed gardeners possess is knowing they don’t grow plants; they grow soil. Plants are merely a byproduct, a simple reflection of the quality of the underlying earth and the effort given to improve it. Green-thumbed gardeners know their primary undertaking is making their soil as amazing as possible. Their healthy plants that we all envy are merely the byproducts of the supremely robust soil earth they’ve created—and of gardeners who have taken EVERY advantage and have used every trick in the book to make that soil the best they know how. That’s their simple secret. It is magic and alchemy, but it all emanates from a completely different view of the situation: seeing themselves first and foremost as growers of healthy soil.

Put in the Work Where It Most Benefits

In this way, green-thumbed gardeners remind me of John Wooden.

Being one of the most successful coaches of all time, people assume he must have been obsessed with winning, but he wasn’t. Instead, he put his energy into each of his players reaching his fullest potential. And, to reach it, he had them practice so intensely that his players thought games were a break and in slow motion by comparison. John Wooden was successful because he understood, at a very deep level, that winning is a byproduct of getting players to reach their fullest potential. Your soil is quite similar: Your practice is your soil. Your plants are your byproduct.

Great gardeners see that bringing their plants to their fullest potential is the byproduct of bringing their soil to its fullest potential. And it’s something any of us can do. 

Master gardeners turn the focus on above-ground growth on its head for good reason. The authors of probably the most thorough and meticulous study of garden plants’ roots make the point perfectly: “In both field and garden the part of the plant environment that lies beneath the surface of the soil is more under the control of the plant grower than is the part which lies above. He [or she] can do relatively little toward changing the composition, temperature, or humidity of the air, or the amount of light. But much may be done by proper cultivation, fertilizing, irrigating, draining, etc. to influence the structure, fertility, aeration, and temperature of the soil.” Students of roots as they were, they knew what really makes a difference to our plants.

Improving the health and strength of our soil is where we can actually make a difference. We can make sure essential sunlight and water are available, but we can’t improve them. Soil is different. It’s the one thing we can improve every day and every year. It’s an area into which we can pour tremendous effort and see marked improvement or put in some effort and see, at least, some improvement. The more we do the better, but anything we do pays at least some dividends. Without healthy soil, however, you won’t have healthy plants—no matter how much of what chemical you dump on them—and the stronger and healthier your soil, the stronger and healthier your plants. 

Building soil is where you come to find a true partnership with your plants and your land, becoming an essential part of its health and growth, and coming to understand just how important your role can be.

But what does this gift of soil look like in its ideal form? How do our plants interact with it? And what can we do to benefit them both?