Nurturing mother earth

Soil is something most of us gardeners take for granted, often treating it as an inanimate mass, conveniently laid down for us to use. But it is a living thing – there are more organisms in a handful of soil than there are people on the planet. Without soil, there would be no gardening and no plants. Soil constituents are linked together, and to growing plants, by billions of intricate relationships. It’s no coincidence that the planet and the soil share a title: earth.

The more we dig, the more we compact our soil, and the more chemicals we add, the more harm we do to all the creatures within it and to the way in which they work together. Not only does digging cut through plant roots, but it also destroys organisms, fungi and bacteria, whose action increases fertility and helps plants to feed. Chemical fertilisers also disrupt the beneficial