Why does soil health matter? Because if you want pest and disease-free plants that are nutrient-dense to nourish your health, you need healthy soil!
“Healthy soil has an ongoing capacity to function as a vibrant living ecosystem that can sustain plants, animals and people.” – Anne Gibson
Do YOU have Healthy Soil?
There are many factors that indicate soil health including:
- a stable pH (not too acid or alkaline);
- good soil structure;
- ability to hold and release nutrients to plants;
- level of organic matter; and
- biodiversity of soil life.
A soil test kit will help you discover what your soil pH is. Picking up a handful of soil will allow you to get a feel for its structure and how ‘alive’ it is with worms and other tiny soil creatures.
5 Secrets to Building Healthy Soil
This is by no means an exhaustive list, just a starting point to reflect on so you can start to cultivate healthy soil in your garden.
1. No chemicals
No matter what kind of soil you have (sand, clay or loam-based), there’s one sure way to kill any soil life in no time. That’s using chemicals. Yep! Any kind. These include herbicides or weedicides you spray on your lawn, pesticides for the bugs, fungicides for the diseases, and even recycled grey water if you use non-organic personal, laundry and cleaning products. Many synthetic fertilisers are toxic for your soil life too. Food for thought isn’t it?
Chemical compounds all filter out into your soil when you water or it rains. So even if you use chemicals in one area of your garden, don’t think they just stay there! Those chemicals move from the surface on plants or grass and down into the soil and water table. Some systemic pesticides will cause lasting damage for years. Using chemicals is one of the quickest ways to reverse your efforts to build a healthy, living soil. If you want a garden that sustains you and healthy plants, toss out toxic substances.
Safe Soil
Hey, and remember your pets too. Love your dog or cat? Think about what those nasty chemicals are doing to your fur babies. They eat grass to help with digestion, so those weedkillers aren’t just harming your weeds. They are equally ingested by animals and wildlife, including birds who forage for worms and insects.
It doesn’t stop there. Those poor little soil workers under your feet, lawn or garden bed have no chance. Chemical poisons are a death sentence. Earthworms and microbes may be small, but they are a vital part of a healthy garden. You need these guys to help feed your plants.
So, if you’re a gardener that even sometimes uses chemicals, make it a goal this year to start solving your problems in a non-toxic way. For your own health, as well as the plants and animals in your garden.
There are plenty of organic strategies I share in articles on this site to help give you alternative ways to work with nature and avoid contaminating the very soil that feeds you.
“The cause of plant disease is poor nutrition and an unhealthy soil ecosystem. The fate of plants is as inseparably entwined with that of the soil as our fate is entwined with theirs. If we want to eat nutritious food we need to take care of the soil, for we too are part of this web of life.” – Heide Hermary
2. Avoid digging and compaction
That’s right. I’m no fan of digging! I focus on quick, easy ways to create healthy soil, rather than destroying it. One main reason is digging disturbs dormant weed seeds. That’s right. Nature sleeps until there’s some kind of chaos or disturbance or when seeds are exposed to light. One sure way to get weed seeds to germinate is to mess with your soil! Do yourself a favour and stop using your spade unnecessarily. The only time I use one is when I plant a fruit tree.
Weeds are plants that tend to thrive in compacted soil that is lacking in minerals and either very alkaline or acid. Remediate your soil and your weeds will likely disappear!
Gentle use of your garden fork to aerate your lawn or garden bed can assist with improving soil structure. Digging can weaken or destroy soil particles.
However, if you have a heavy clay soil that has poor drainage, you may need to loosen the clay to add soil amendments such as gypsum or dolomite lime to improve the structure, break up clods or incorporate organic matter.
However, double digging (apart from being unnecessary and incredibly hard work) or turning over your soil by tilling, can quickly destroy the living community of microorganisms below. I’m talking mass murder!
The soil is their ‘house’ – their shelter, where they live, work and eat. Excessive digging disturbs microbe habitat. So, give your soil ‘community’ a break and build healthy habitat for microbes by adding organic matter like manures, cover crops, compost and mulch. You’ll also avoid damaging shallow plant roots.
Likewise, avoid compacting soggy soil after rain by trying to work it. We never mow or use equipment when the soil is wet. I make it a rule not to ever walk on my garden beds. It’s too damaging. Waterlogged soil needs time to drain if all the air pockets have become filled with water. These are simple steps you can take to save your soil from damage.
3. Organic matter
Now we get to an important positive action you SHOULD take. Be proactive and BUILD your soil health. Use what you have handy in your own garden, kitchen or neighbourhood to add organic materials that haven’t been contaminated with chemicals.
Easily available organic matter can include:
- your kitchen food scraps (don’t waste those nutrients – recycle them);
- grass clippings (fresh and green, they add nitrogen or aged and brown, they add carbon);
- leaves (if you don’t have any, offer to rake up and bag your neighbour’s ‘problem’);
- pruned branches or seedless weeds;
- coffee grinds from the local café (yep – you can solve their ‘waste’ problem by offering to reuse it);
- manures (ideally aged rather than fresh and NOT from animals that eat chemically-treated pasture or have been recently medicated); or
- disease-free plant material.
If you have your own compost system, that’s ideal for building larger volumes of nutrient-rich soil to feed your garden. A worm farm is another way to recycle organic matter and get the worms to do the work for you to create worm castings or vermicast. This too will help feed your soil and plants.
Affiliate Links: Your support of this site is appreciated!
Whichever soil-building method you use, layering organic matter on top of your soil helps create habitat for your soil workers, add nutrients and vital moisture, improves soil structure, balances pH and imitates nature. So, go for it!
4. Keep soil covered
It doesn’t matter whether you are growing in containers or garden beds (raised or on the ground), the rule is still the same. No bare earth at any time. Otherwise, ‘weeds’ (I like to call them ‘Nature’s rehabilitators’) will turn up to do your job and cover the earth to protect and nourish it.
Always cover with mulch or a living ground cover. Use whatever you’ve got handy. Leaves, dried grass clippings, hay, woody bark chips, etc. Or plant a cover crop, green manure or ground cover that will stop weeds from growing and feed your soil workers.
Applying mulch or a living ground cover stops moisture from evaporating and provides a healthy environment around your plants, helping feed the soil. You’ll reduce your water needs, lose less nutrients while protecting your plant and soil health.
Affiliate Links: Your support of this site is appreciated!
5. Moisture matters
Dead, dry dirt is often the reason why many people can’t grow healthy plants.
“Healthy soil holds moisture like a sponge and releases nutrients to the plants as they need it. It smells fresh and earthy and feels moist.” – Anne Gibson
All plants need moisture to not only survive, but to thrive. Even more so when you’re growing food.
Fruiting crops like pumpkin, zucchini, cucumbers and capsicum, fruit trees as well as leafy greens have high water needs compared to many other edibles like hardy herbs.
So, maintaining soil moisture is a key to a healthy soil. If you live in a very dry climate, you may need to make wise choices about the plants you grow. The less rainfall you get, the more you will need to water.
The more organic matter your soil has, the greater the moisture holding capacity. If you live in a high rainfall area, soil moisture may not be an issue for you. However, for most gardeners including myself, at least some of the year has little or no rain.
If your soil is too dry, your plants can’t access the nutrients. If it’s too wet and waterlogged, they can suffer from root rot and other problems because of inadequate drainage or aeration. The microbe community down there literally drowns.
Aim for a consistently moist soil for most plants except for drought hardy varieties and water-wise plants. One easy solution is to make your own soil potting mix that has everything your plants need – shelter, nutrients, moisture and air. At least until your soil health improves. You can learn to make your own soil mixes sustainably with my How to Make Potting Mix at Home Guide.
In Summary, the 5 Tips for Building Healthy Soil are:
1. Stop using any chemicals to encourage a healthy soil microbe population to help feed and protect your plants and avoid harming beneficial insects, pollinators and wildlife.
2. Avoid digging and compaction which destroy soil life and structure. Be gentle with the earth – layer UP instead of digging DOWN.
3. Continually add organic matter – one of the building blocks of healthy soil, which decomposes and recycles nutrients to feed your plants.
4. Keep your soil covered, never bare. A layer of mulch, living ground cover or a short-term cover crop are easy solutions. See 20 Reasons Why You Should Mulch Your Garden.
5. Maintain your soil moisture at a consistent level. If you are growing in pots, learn more in 17 Water Saving Tips for Container Gardens. If you are growing plants in garden beds, see Ten Water Saving Tips for Your Garden for practical strategies you can use and water-wise plant suggestions.
By applying these five simple strategies, you’re on your way to:
- creating healthy soil;
- growing pest-and-disease-resistant plants; and
- improving your own wellness.
Related articles:
- 3 Steps to Prepare your Garden for Planting
- 20 Reasons Why You Should Mulch Your Garden
- 7 Sustainable Garden Design Tips
- How to Use Compost and 7 Benefits of Composting
- Design Tips for a Productive Kitchen Garden
Like this article?
Please share and encourage your friends to join my free Newsletter for exclusive insights, tips and all future articles.
© Copyright Anne Gibson, The Micro Gardener 2017. https://themicrogardener.com. All rights reserved.
Some links within this article are affiliate links. I only recommend products or services I use personally or believe will add value to my readers. If you purchase a product via an affiliate link, I will earn a small commission. There is no additional cost to you. It’s a way you can support my site, so it’s a win-win for both of us. You directly support my ability to continue bringing you original, inspiring and educational content to help benefit your health. Thanks! Please read my Disclosure Statement for more details.
[…] and rarely any major pest problems. Only plants that are native to the area grow there, fed by a healthy soil that has not been depleted – one that is fed by the ecosystem it is part […]
[…] you have a lot of pest insect problems in your garden, look at your soil health as a first step. Then, cultural practices like watering, feeding and position. It’s far easier to […]
[…] plant, to create a shady microclimate or windbreak, and as a ‘chop and drop’ crop to build healthy soil. I harvest the large rhizomes or tubers when they are 12-18 months old because they become too […]
[…] lots of healthy fruit, strong roots and a good canopy of leaves to prevent sunburn, make sure to stock the soil pantry first. Good preparation is the […]
Hi may I have some questions?
I saw somewhere advising not to use wood bark and chips for mulching on the vegetable garden. Something about they take away the nutrients. Can I ask for your take on that?
Also I heard that instead of pulling out weeds one should cut the top and leave the bottom to rot in the bed. Does this apply to vegetables that you harvested too?
Thank you.
When you add a woody mulch like bark or woodchips onto the surface of your soil, micro-organisms, fungi and bacteria will start to decompose these materials and break them down as food. For this to happen they ‘take’ nutrients out of the soil and this process is called ‘nitrogen drawdown’ because the main nutrient they require is nitrogen.
I add carbon-based mulch to my garden all the time (native woodchip) but to avoid nitrogen drawdown, there’s a simple solution. You just pull back any mulch already in place and then add a thin layer (1-2cm or 1/2 in) of compost or aged manure to the soil. Then add your wood mulch on top. The nitrogen-rich manure or compost acts as a buffer between the carbon mulch and your microbes, providing them with the food they need so your plants are not robbed of nutrients and are well fed but enjoy all the benefits of moisture-holding mulch.
The weeds are a more difficult question to answer as many are deep-rooted or have spreading runners that can continue to cause issues. However, all ‘weeds’ are present because they are trying to remediate poor quality soil. They are drawing up minerals that are lacking. You can use the tops to make ‘weed tea’ and reuse over your soil to redistribute the nutrients. I leave my vegetable roots in situ unless I’m harvesting a root crop like garlic to feed the microbes and give the soil a rest in that position.
Hi Anne,
Thank you for the nice article.
I just have a question. I”ve been removing all the weeds on my garden with the impression that it may take all the nutrients required for the plants. I’m confused after reading this article. Should I leave the weeds on their place as they are or removing them is a better option? Please clarify.
Hi Nazar
It is generally true that weeds can compete for nutrients with plants your WANT to grow. However, at the same time, many are also replacing nutrients from deeper down in your soil and bringing them to the surface to replenish and heal a nutrient-deficient soil. Weeds have been demonised by herbicide companies to sell you chemicals but in Nature, weeds are primarily plants that have a role to play. Most gardeners just don’t understand how they can help give them clues as to what’s wrong with their soil. Each situation is different, but if you start mineralising your soil and try to keep the soil pH fairly neutral, most of your weeds will likely die back naturally. Perhaps take out the worst offenders especially those with seed heads to avoid spreading. You can weaken the weeds by mowing or whipper snipping them while remediating your soil. It takes time using this method and I’m doing this at present in my new yard. I can see the difference it makes. I hope this helps give you some food for thought!
Cheers Anne
Thank you Anne. Will follow your advice.
Regards,
Nazar
Thanks, Ann
You have given personalised suggestions to help with my garden and I appreciate your advice.
I have looked at Gardenate and can see there is still much I can grow.
I will refer back to your site since it has very helpful guidance.
Thanks again.
Happy to help Frank and thanks for the feedback. I hope the tips on this website and in the newsletter help you grow a productive edible garden this year.
Warm regards, Anne