Good Soil: Changing Your Soil Part 4
Qualities of Good Soil
Healthy soil benefits plants in many ways. Plants grown in good soil are more resistant to diseases and pests. 
The particles clump together, providing good soil structure, supporting the roots as they grow downward. These clumps also act as sponges, retaining water and then releasing it slowly to the plants above. Excess water gets filtered by the soil as it travels down into underground reservoirs. Good quality soil also traps and stores carbon, suppresses weeds ad produces the most tasty and nutritious vegetables. All without using harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
So how does good soil do all this?
Well, the biology is interesting.
The Soil Food Web
Good soil has a vibrant ecosystem called the Soil Food Web. Within the ecosystem are plants, earthworms, microscopic fungi, bacteria and other insects. This web of life is mutually supportive or beneficial. Here’s how it works.
- Through photosynthesis the plants produce sugars, but need other nutrients too.
- Without microscopic partners, the nutrients in the soil are in an unusable form.
- The organic matter—banana peels, rotting wood, decaying leaves—is broken down by fungi and bacteria, into minerals and nutrients the plants can absorb.
- In turn, the sugar the plants produce feeds the microbes.
- Both beneficial bacteria and fungi also release sticky substances which causes the soil to clump together; but air pockets are plentiful.
- Earthworms tunnel through good soil, which allows roots to penetrate more deeply.
Healthy soil is porous and rich in oxygen.
Protected from Disease and Pests
How does a healthy, rich soil protect plants from disease? The answer cycles back to the microbes again.
A poorly nourished plant releases fewer phytochemicals.- Phytochemicals can be toxic to insects, parasites and herbivores or simply taste bad.
- Well-nourished, healthy plants produce more of the chemical weapons needed to defend their leaves, flowers, fruits and stems.
- In healthy soil, beneficial fungi and bacteria cover the root’s surface. So bad, disease-causing microbes are crowded out.
- Oxygen-rich soil is also hostile to many harmful microbes, which strongly prefer an oxygen-poor environment.
The Soil’s Web of Life
Plants thrive in the ecosystem of a healthy soil. But the bacteria and fungi are equally inter-dependent on their giant leafy neighbors. If all the plants die at the end of the season, the soil microscopic ecosystem—the microbiome—can collapse, as the fungi and bacteria starve to death. Organic soil scientists suggest planting perennial plants next to the annual plants which die every year.
They also warn against tilling the soil. This action breaks up the fragile microscopic networks and disrupts the soil’s wonderful structure. Instead the experts suggest broadforking (see under Resources).
Another suggestion? Avoid adding synthetic fertilizers. If the plants receive their nutrition artificially, they won’t partner with the beneficial fungi and bacteria. Then the Soil Food Web falls apart and the gardener loses all the benefits of having healthy soil.
Jesus’ Parable of the Sower
23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23 NIV)
Seed that falls on the Good Soil
- These people are truly saved.
- They walk by faith and obey their Lord.
- Spiritually these Christians are very fruitful.
My Spiritual Point
Fruitfulness depends on the spiritual condition of our heart.
Is it soft? Frequently watered by the Holy Spirit? Enriched by the truth of God’s Word?
The good soil within us needs to be preserved. Because fruitfulness only continues if we keep our good soil free of rocks and thorns.
These images came from Pixabay.com.
Resources:
Here’s the website which educated me, “How Healthy Soil Makes Heathy Plants and Ecosystems”
Instead of tilling the soil, experts suggest broadforking as an alternative gardening method.
