SOIL & COMPOST

It has been said, "it is better to spend $100 on soil and $5 on a plant rather than $100 on a plant and $5 on soil"

Soil …healthy soil is essential to all life on Planet Earth and that includes the life of a garden! First of all let’s get one thing straight …. Soil is not dirt!  Dirt is what gets on our clothes or under our fingernails. It is something to wash off, to clean up, to remove – but it is NOT SOIL. 

Soil is a mix of minerals, air, water, and organic matter – living organisms and the decaying remains of once-living things. Soil is alive! One cup of soil has more organisms in it than people on Earth (6 billion). 

That's a whole lot of life in a little bit of soil! The soil under our feet is like a thin living skin that covers our planet. Often the topsoil in our residential landscapes has been stripped during development and/or compacted and polluted with over application of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides so building healthy soil is a first step toward growing a beautiful garden or lawn. 

With that in mind, you will find here an excellent series on "Soil Science & Preparation" by Don Boekelheide, and an informative article on "Building Soil Fertility" by Mary Stauble.  Don and Mary garden successfully in the predominantly clay soils of North Carolina's Piedmont region. Continue on to composting, vermiculture and leaves.