What is Soil Health?
Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. Healthy soil gives us clean air and water, bountiful crops and forests, productive grazing lands, diverse wildlife, and beautiful landscapes. Soil does all this by performing five essential functions:
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Regulating water
Soil helps control where rain, snowmelt, and irrigation water go. Water flows over the land or into and through the soil. -
Sustaining plant and animal life
The diversity and productivity of living things depends on soil. -
Filtering and buffering potential pollutants.
The minerals and microbes in soil are responsible for filtering, buffering, degrading, immobilizing, and detoxifying organic and inorganic materials, including industrial and municipal by-products and atmospheric deposits. -
Cycling nutrients
Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and many other nutrients are stored, transformed, and cycled in the soil. -
Providing physical stability and support
Soil structure provides a medium for plant roots. Soils also provide support for human structures and protection for archeological treasures.
What to look for in your soil:
Aggregate formation
Aggregates (the little pieces that crumble in your hand) are formed from the binding of organic matter in the soil. They provide both large and small pores which allow for water to efficiently infiltrate the soil.
Not only does aggregated soil store plant-available water in times of limited rainfall, but it also provides root channels and optimal habitat for earthworms!
Saprophytic Fungi
Saprophytic fungi are one of the most active decomposers in soils. They decompose non-living organic matter and play a huge role in both carbon cycling and soil mineralization. Saprophytic fungi produce enzymes that break down cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin.
Saprophytic fungi are found in soils with sufficient moisture and enough decomposing organic matter for them to feed on!
Critters and Earthworms!
Healthy soil is full of life, species like spiders, ground beetles and centipedes help keep away pests and disease.
Worms aerate the soil, allowing better circulation. They also eat organic material and add it back to the soil along with enzymes and bacteria through their casts.
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