It’s Nature’s gift!
It’s often already there for us in perfect form, free of charge.
But we can help create it if we don’t have as much of it as we’d like.
Improving It Is Our Most Important Contribution!
Soil building is the one thing we truly affect and facilitate and the best way we can continue to improve our garden.
But all we really need to do is provide the correct raw materials and the rest is done for us while we rest.
In the blog posts below, we explain all the facets of soil one needs to know to have an excellent garden and how to accomplish near perfection with the least effort and cost.
Amazing Soil: An Introduction
There is absolutely nothing like soil. Its rich smell—sent north on the breeze on a late-winter day when deep in our souls we’re longing for the joys of the sun on our skin and the unmitigated smiles of peace that come unbidden while sitting on our garden paths surrounded by a profusion of growth—is the truest harbinger of spring, and its redolence marks the wayposts of the garden year—the tilling, the planting, the hoeing and weeding, the harvest, the cleanup.
But what lies beyond the surface is the key to our becoming great gardeners.
on what makes healthy soil, the depth and breadth of plants’ roots, and how to build healthy soil.
A Gardener’s Relationship with Soil
How important is soil, really?
What soil is required for truly healthy plants?
What insights do green-thumbed gardeners have about soil?
How do green-thumbed gardeners see their relationship with soil?
The vision in the head of all great, green-thumbed gardeners is what truly sets them apart. But what is this vision? It starts with soil.
Perfect Soil
What does perfect soil look like?
I mean, what are the elements of perfect soil?
Is having good soil only about how rich in nutrients it is?
Is having perfect soil even achievable?
Perfect soil is a gardener’s dream. But what exactly are all of the essential elements of perfect soil?
Lessons from Our Roots
Why does our soil need to be loosened so deeply?
Why do plants benefit so much from wide planting beds?
How deeply and broadly do our roots grow? Is it really that deep and wide?
If we could learn the true depth and breadth of our plants’ roots what would this tell us about the spaces we provide for them?
Our plants’ roots are the biggest source of insight for their needs. Luckily, two inspiring researchers carefully measured and mapped them for us! Let’s have a look!
Building Soil
Perfect Soil: The One Aspect Every Gardener Can Create
Perfect soil might be a gardener’s dream. The reality, however, usually isn’t so easy. Most of us start with clay-choked or sand-filled soil. But gardeners can create perfect soil. Doing so is their practice: that to which they regularly devote their time and energy and the most impactful way they can create strong, healthy, incredibly productive plants.
But how?
Loosen the soil and add organic matter.
The blog posts below describe several ways to add organic matter to your soil—from adding cured compost to mulching and growing cover crops—and several bed preparation methods that both add organic matter and loosen the soil to create incredibly productive beds. The bed preparation methods are presented in order from most intensive and effective to least intensive and effective, and even include some methods that do no loosening—so you can choose the ones that fit the desired results for each set of your garden plants based on how much time and energy you want to spend. Along the way, we’ll also cover several methods for creating raised beds, using cover crops to improve your soil, and the ins and outs of making your own compost.
Loosening Soil:
The First Step to Achieve the Soil of Every Gardener’s Dream
Shown its necessity by the depth and breadth of our plants’ roots, the first step in building healthy soil is loosening it deeply. But why is this so important, and why do plants do so much better in loosened soil? Here’s an overview of the methods and their relationship to the ultimate goal: healthy plants.
Adding Organic Matter:
The Best Way to Achieve the Soil of Every Gardener’s Dream
Compost
Mulch
Cover Crops
Bed Preparation Methods:
Loosening AND Adding Organic Matter to Create Amazing Soil for Your Plants
The Most Intense and Effective
Easy But Still Very Effective
Modified Versions of Conventional Methods
Popular But Not Prudent
“No-Dig/No-Till” Methods
These methods are actually ways of adding organic matter, not loosening soil. However, they’re included here because they are also ways of making planting beds like the soil loosening methods above.