INFO SHEET: Creating good soils
by Russ Grayson, updated May 2020.
Fertile, nutritious soils are the basis of prolific, productive organic gardens. Good gardening starts with good soils.
Soils are a habitat. They consist of:
- a non-living part made up of the
- minerals such as sand and clay
- air
- the living part of the soil made up of insects and bacteria, virus and fungi.
A fertile soil is a matrix of life.
To garden and grow food successfully we create a habitat in which soil life, including that which we plant, can flourish.
Like people, plants need a balanced diet of nutrients. In the organic garden these come from the soil. We create the soil—this habitat for soil life—by understanding how soils work and by working with nature.
Knowledge of soils leads to cooperation with nature and, as our crops thrive, to good, tasty food.