For robust, productive plants you need soil that is full of nutrients, free of diseases and pests, you need healthy soil!
What is healthy soil?
Healthy soil has a good soil structure, a stable pH, contains organic matter, has the ability to retain and release nutrients when the plant needs them, and has a biodiversity of soil life.
When you pick up a handful of soil, it should not feel like dry lifeless dirt!
The first step to healthy soil is no chemicals
Using any type of chemicals, synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides, are toxic to the soil. Chemical compounds don’t stay in the soil, they get filtered out by water. Eventually making their way to the water table. Some chemicals can even cause damage that lasts for years!
Creating safe soil
Those hazardous chemicals you add to your garden aren’t just harming the soil, don’t forget about our fur babies. Beneficial worms, microbes, and insects are killed by these nasty chemicals, just think what it is doing to our pets, wildlife, and children who play outside. There are many organic alternatives that won’t contaminate the soil.
“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
Add organic matter to the soil
Build healthy soil by adding organic matter. Whether it is a compost system or a worm farm, the addition of these valuable nutrients into the soil will help feed your plants and keep pests and disease at away.
If you don’t have time to build and maintain a worm farm, adding organic black castings is a great alternative.
Moisture in the soil
Healthy plants aren’t grown in dry dirt! On the other hand, waterlogged soil drowns the vital microbe community and allow your plants to suffer from root rot. The more organic matter in the soil, the more capacity it has to hold moisture.
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