CULTIVATION THE SOUL OF THE SOIL BY RACHAEL CARLEVALE A single teaspoon of soil can hold up to one billion bacteria, several yards of fungal filaments, several thousand protozoa, and thousands of nematodes, the essential factor separating soil from dirt— Life! To build living soil for your garden, use high quality organic ingredients from sustainable sources to create a stable ecosystem that will model nature’s rhythms. The soil food web powers the growth of the plants by making nutrients available and creates a regenerative closed loop system. Natural soil systems allow for the organic cycling of nutrients from the diversity of microbes present. Once you have created a living organic soil, you, in essence, can just plant a seed and water it. Plants have and do grow all the time without the use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and chemicals to motivate pH levels.
It happens in nature everyday. When humans interrupt these natural systems, like trying to bypass the soil food web for example, it can lead to a dependance on varying methods of agriculture based in synthetic models known to harm the environment and, potentially, the plant and end user. One solution is to observe natural patterns and model them (both indoors and out). When seeds fall, they are covered with a mulch. The soil receives a protective layer of dried leaves to create an inhabitable environment for the life beneath our feet to thrive. We mock this particular autumn seasonal flow in our gardens by including cover crops, top dressing with compost, and mulching. There are many examples of soil building and methods to farming that one may explore.
THE USUAL
THERE ARE MANY EXAMPLES OF SOIL BUILDING + METHODS TO FARMING THAT ONE MAY EXPLORE.
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