How to Build Soil for a Healthy, Organic Garden Donna Larson, April 13, 2024April 13, 2024 Often times, new gardeners get overwhelmed with the research that comes with their new hobby. How to build soil quickly becomes the top priority to cultivate an organic, nutrient-dense vegetable garden. We’re here to help. Why You Need to Build Soil Building healthy soil in your new vegetable garden is crucial for several reasons. First, nutrient-rich soil promotes robust plant growth, ensuring your vegetables thrive and produce abundant yields. Additionally, healthy soil with good structure and microbial activity enhances water retention, reduces erosion, and fosters a balanced ecosystem. This contributes to long-term sustainability and resilience in your garden. Before You Build Soil, Start With a Simple Soil Test Before you know how to amend your native soil, you need to know what you’re working with. Check out this soil test from Redmond’s Agriculture that gives “test results [to] help you understand how to improve soil and plant health, while effortlessly guiding sustainable practices.” (-Redmond’s) Basically, the results will leave you with no guessing at what you might need to build healthy soil. What is the Quickest Way to Build Soil? Building soil quickly involves a combination of techniques aimed at enriching soil fertility, improving its structure, and enhancing microbial activity. Here are some methods to expedite the soil-building process: Compost Cover Cropping / Green Manure Mulching Biochar Vermicomposting Microbial Inoculants Mineral Amendments No-Till Farming Crop Rotation Building Soil Structure Whether you have sandy soil or clay soils, all of these options will help you build soil structure. 1. Compost: Composting is one of the fastest ways to build soil fertility. By combining organic waste such as kitchen scraps, yard trimmings, and manure, you create nutrient-rich compost that can be incorporated into soil. 2. Cover Cropping/Green Manure: Planting cover crops like legumes or grasses helps improve soil structure, adds organic matter, and fixes nitrogen. These crops can be turned into the soil, adding nutrients when they decompose. 3. Mulching: Mulching with organic materials helps retain moisture, suppress weeds, and gradually enriches the soil as the mulch breaks down. Try materials such as straw, wood chips, or leaves to mulch. 4. Manure and Organic Amendments: Adding well-aged manure or other organic amendments like composted plant material directly to the soil increases nutrient levels and improves soil structure. 5. Biochar: Biochar is a type of charcoal produced from organic materials. Incorporating biochar can improve soil structure, water retention, and nutrient availability while enhancing microbial activity. 6. Vermicomposting: Using earthworms to break down organic matter into nutrient-rich castings can accelerate the decomposition process and enrich the soil with beneficial microbes. 7. Microbial Inoculants: Applying microbial inoculants can speed up the breakdown of organic matter and enhance nutrient availability to plants. Try to make a compost tea or use purchased beneficial bacteria and fungi. 8. Mineral Amendments: Adding minerals like rock dust or lime can help balance soil pH and provide essential nutrients that plants need for growth. Furthermore, adding organic items like blood meal to increase nitrogen or bone meal to increase phosphorus are easy to obtain. 9. No-Till Farming: Avoiding tilling can preserve soil structure and microbial communities, allowing organic matter to accumulate and improve soil health more rapidly. 10. Crop Rotation: Implementing crop rotation helps prevent soil depletion by diversifying nutrient demands and reducing the risk of pest and disease buildup. Different plants in different spaces use different nutrients. They also leave behind different impacts on the soil they were grown in. Organic Materials Build Soil Organic materials play a crucial role in building soil by providing essential nutrients and fostering microbial activity. When organic matter is added to the soil, it decomposes, releasing nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. This decomposition process will build soil structure, increasing its ability to retain moisture and nutrients. Additionally, organic materials enhance soil fertility over time, promoting healthier plant growth and biodiversity. Making Organic Garden Soil I always say that you can invest time or money into any project. Both are valuable resources to the homestead. If you want to save time, spend the money to purchase bulk organic soil. You can also spend the time and save your money to make your own. We have lots of help with organic composts here on the blog, but the gist of it is: Collect Organic Materials: Gather a variety of organic materials such as kitchen scraps (fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, eggshells), yard waste (grass clippings, leaves, small branches), and aged manure. Composting: Set up a compost bin or pile in your backyard. Layer the organic materials, alternating between green materials (high in nitrogen) and brown materials (high in carbon). Keep the pile moist and turn it regularly to aerate and speed up decomposition. Add Amendments: To enrich the compost, add other organic materials like shredded newspaper, straw, or sawdust. You can also incorporate garden soil or finished compost to introduce beneficial microbes. Monitor and Maintain: Regularly check the moisture level and temperature of the compost pile. It should feel damp but not soggy, and the internal temperature should ideally reach between 130°F to 150°F to facilitate decomposition. Wait for Maturity: Depending on factors like temperature and the size of the pile, composting may take several weeks to several months. Once the compost is dark, crumbly, and earthy-smelling, it’s ready to use. Creating Life Within Your Soil Besides vermicomposting, when you add organic matter to your garden bed, you are inviting the wild soil organisms into your garden. The biological processes created by them unlocks nutrients for your plants. Also, consider using microbial inoculants or compost teas to introduce beneficial microorganisms directly into the soil. Avoid chemical pesticides and fertilizers that can harm beneficial soil organisms. Continuous Circle of LIfe to Build Soil The beneficial soil microbes will continue to feed off of the organic materials that you add to your garden. The garden will produce scraps and dead foliage that you can add to your compost. Once it’s broken down, you are able to feed it back to the soil. When a crop is finished producing in your garden, leave the plant roots in the soil, and chop the plant at the soil level. You are disturbing the soil less by doing this, but you’re also leaving behind biomass that will break down to feed the next crop. Compost Compost is a favorite subject here at American Farmsteadhers. We’re always promoting the idea to use what you have. Everyone has kitchen scraps and access to dead leaves. Most of us have animal manure. If you’re a gardener, you have plant refuse that can be added to compost. We have loads of information to help you get started composting. I encourage you to check out all of the different methods to compost, and then find what works for you. Add a couple of inches of compost to your garden beds with each growing season for best results. Using some of your compost to brew into a tea and spraying directly onto your plant foliage gives an immediate boost of nutrients to your plants. Air Air is vital for building healthy soil in your vegetable garden as it promotes natural processes like decomposition, nutrient cycling, and microbial activity. Adequate aeration ensures that roots receive oxygen, promoting healthy plant growth and preventing compaction, which can hinder root development and water infiltration. A broadfork is an excellent tool to help aerate your soil before planting. Remember, we want to disturb the soil life as little as possible. To improve clay soil for adequate aeration in your vegetable garden, incorporate organic matter. If you have a clay soil or a heavy soil of silt, consider adding some sand or perlite to help fluff it up. Moisture Water is crucial for building healthy soil in your vegetable garden as it facilitates nutrient uptake by plants, supports microbial activity, and maintains soil structure. Proper moisture levels promote the breakdown of organic matter, aiding in the release of nutrients for plant use, while also preventing soil compaction and erosion, ensuring optimal growing conditions for your vegetables. Diversity to Build Soil Just like maintaining a healthy compost bin, diversity will build soil faster than you’d think. The physical properties that come with each different kind of amendment that you add to the garden will better help to bring a more perfect soil. (Note: there is no “perfect soil” as it’s ever-evolving.) Other than compost, let’s look at some other soil amendments that you can add to build soil in your vegetable garden. Mycorrhizal Fungi Mycorrhizal fungi play a crucial role in building soil health in the garden by forming symbiotic relationships with plant roots. These fungi extend the root system’s reach, enhancing nutrient and water uptake for plants, thereby promoting their growth and resilience. Moreover, the mycorrhizal fungi fnetwork is arguably the most important life-giving structure within your soil. The way plants defend against disease and take up nutrients through the mycorrhizal communication network is simply amazing. Fungi also helps to decompose all of that organic matter that we keep telling you to add to your garden to balance the local ecosystem. Nitrogen Fixing Nitrogen fixing refers to the process by which certain bacteria, known as nitrogen-fixing bacteria, convert atmospheric nitrogen gas into a form of nitrogen that plants can use, such as ammonia or nitrate. This process is vital for providing plants with an essential nutrient, nitrogen, which is necessary for their growth and development. Some examples of nitrogen-fixing plants commonly used in gardens to improve soil fertility include: Legumes: Plants in the legume family, such as peas, beans (including common beans, like kidney beans and green beans), lentils, chickpeas, and clover, have nodules on their roots where nitrogen-fixing bacteria reside. These bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form usable by plants, enriching the soil with nitrogen as the plants grow. Alfalfa: Alfalfa is a perennial legume that not only fixes nitrogen but also has deep roots that help break up compacted soil and bring nutrients to the surface. Red clover: Red clover is a versatile nitrogen-fixing cover crop often used in crop rotation to improve soil fertility and structure. White clover: White clover is a low-growing perennial legume commonly used as a living mulch or ground cover in vegetable gardens to suppress weeds and fix nitrogen. Vetch: Vetches are annual or perennial legumes that are often grown as cover crops to add nitrogen to the soil and improve soil structure. Similarly, nitrogen-fixing bacteria often form symbiotic relationships with plants, particularly legumes like peas, beans, and clover, contributing to soil fertility and ecosystem health. Rotating Crops to Build Soil Rotating crops in your vegetable garden helps build soil by preventing nutrient depletion, managing pests and diseases, and improving soil structure. Different crops have unique nutrient needs and contributions, so rotating them diversifies the demands on the soil, promoting balanced nutrient levels. Additionally, crop rotation disrupts pest and disease cycles, reduces weed pressure, and encourages the development of a healthy, resilient soil ecosystem, ultimately supporting the long-term health and productivity of your garden. Less Tilling to Build Soil Practice minimal soil disturbance to foster a thriving microbial community. When we disturb the soil by tearing it up, we prevent the building of soil in the garden for several reasons. Firstly, it disturbs the soil structure, disrupting the natural arrangement of soil particles and breaking down soil aggregates, which are essential for good soil and water retention. Secondly, tilling can accelerate the decomposition of organic matter, depleting soil organic carbon and reducing soil fertility over time. Finally, frequent tilling can disturb beneficial soil organisms and their habitats, disrupting soil microbial communities crucial for nutrient cycling and overall soil health. “Mother Nature Likes to Cover Herself” I wish that I knew the origin of this statement so that I can give credit where it’s due. Similarly, I’ve heard that “Mother Nature is modest, and if you don’t cover her, she’ll cover herself.” Think about the ground in it’s wild, natural state. It is covered with dead leaf litter or dead grass. If there is nothing there, the ground becomes dry until the weeds effectively cover it. Cover the ground on your terms with these options: Mulch Biomass Green Manures Live Ground cover 1. Mulch Mulching helps to retain moisture, and we’ve already covered, moisture supports soil life. Moreover, wood mulch breaks down to further feed the soil and add plant nutrients into the garden. Mulch is easy to obtain from local arborists or nurseries. I suggest you get a good hard wood mulch instead of cedar mulch from the big box store because it breaks down faster. 2. Chop and Drop Biomass The idea of chop and drop is that you’re growing plants for the sole purposes of chopping them down to cover the ground. In the winter, I like to grow extra collards because the large leaves are easy to break off and lay on the ground beneath other brassicas. Banana leaves, canna lilies, and any kind of greens are good to grow for chop and drop mulch in your summer garden. 3. Green Manures Green manure refers to fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing cover crops that are grown and then incorporated into the soil while still green or actively growing. Instead of growing them to till into the soil, like many growers like to do, chop them off at soil level and leave the roots. Green manure is typically used during periods when the garden bed would otherwise be left fallow, providing multiple benefits for soil health and productivity. 4. Live Ground-covers Growing vining plants are a really good option of living ground cover in your garden. For example, I’m growing sweet potatoes and melons beneath my blackberry bushes this year. The idea is that the foliage of these vining plants will sprawl faster than the grass can come in and take over. The plants should shade the ground beneath to keep weeds from sprouting in that space. Conclusion on How to Build Soil in Your Vegetable Garden In conclusion, I hope that you’ll leave with these three tips to build soil in your garden: plant diversity, add compost made with diversity, and cover the ground with diversity. If you do these things, you’re sure to build soil, which results in more nutrient dense food from your garden. Happy Soil Building! Donna @ Hazel Belle Farm Donna and her family have been homesteading for most of their 20+ years together in some shape or fashion. She currently lives on their 20 acre farm where they grow as much food as possible. What started as a just a few laying hens, has grown into large gardens, pastured poultry, pork, and lamb. They are continuously evolving their small farm to not suit their family’s needs, but also providing to their local community. Donna’s favorite part of the family farm is her self-built micro-dairy, where she gets to love on dairy cows while serving her local community. Milking, cheesemaking, and processing dairy have become the soul of their homestead and the center of their farm. Gardening Homesteading