Building Healthy Soil to Grow a Sustainable Garden

Over the past 25 years in the gardening industry, I’ve seen firsthand the impact that healthy soil has on the health of your plants and the overall ecology of your garden. Soil is the foundation, so you want to build a good one. The healthier your soil is, the happier and healthier your plants will be! Let’s dig into how to build healthy soil from the ground up, starting with the science behind it.

What is Soil

Did you know that – in the game 20 Questions – “soil” can be an animal, vegetable, or mineral? That’s because very small organisms populate it, it contains bodies of plants (dead and alive), and it holds remnants of rock. How cool is that?

The components of soil are:

  • Mineral (45%)

  • Organic matter (5%)

  • Air (25%)

  • Water (25%)

The types of soil texture include:

  • Sand (large particles and pore size)

  • Silt (medium particles and pore size)

  • Clay (small particles tightly packed with very little space between)

Soil is an essential living element of your garden and the foundation for the health and ecology of it. If you want to grow an abundance of food or a bounty of flowers, consider the quality of your soil first.

Soil Health For a Healthy Garden

There are a few indications that your soil is healthy (and that your garden will be healthy too!). 

Healthy soil:

Bacteria and fungi are so important to your soil health because they break down organic material, store nutrients, break down pollutants, and create a soil structure with adequate pore space.

When the soil is held together yet air and water can flow easily and plant roots can grow freely, this is what gardeners like to call “dream soil!”

But what if you don’t have dream soil? Maybe you moved into a house on newly developed land and don’t have the best quality ground to work with. I have some great foundational tips to help you build fertile, nutrient-rich soil for your garden.

6 Tips to Improve Soil Health

There are a few ways to boost the health of your soil without resorting to toxic chemicals. Natural, eco-friendly solutions work extremely well while benefiting your garden and the environment for years to come.

1. Use quality compost

The best way to increase soil health is to add quality compost. Compost is a stable form of digested organic material that can remain in the soil for centuries. It is the final product of decomposed organic matter. Compost is not soil; it’s what you amend soil with, top dress plants with, or apply around your plants’ root zones.

Compost is nature’s way of recycling nutrients and materials. Adding it to your garden’s soil will:

  • Improve soil structure by adding pore space

  • Increase water retention

  • Improve the soil’s microbiology

  • Recycle nutrients

  • Reduce the need for pesticides

  • Fight pathogens and bad bacteria in the soil, which makes it more resilient

2. Feed with organic fertilizers

Organic fertilizer is derived from organic matter – compost, manure, alfalfa meal, etc. – that contains micronutrients not found in synthetics. Feeding organic provides more complete nutrients for your soil because you’re feeding the microbiology of your garden, not just the plant. This is also a sustainable way to feed plants because it provides food on an as-needed basis. 

3. Add worm casting

Worms are incredible for your soil. As the worms eat through compost, their waste enriches the soil. It improves soil aeration and drainage. It also increases the soil’s water retention. 

I consider worm casting a super food for the soil because it:

  • Contains an abundance of essential nutrients and minerals

  • Has important enzymes, beneficial bacteria, and humus that benefit the plant structure

  • Prevents pests and diseases 

4. Protect the soil with mulch

A protective layer of mulch laid on the surface of your soil has many positive benefits. Mulch aids with water infiltration, significantly reduces water evaporation, and helps regulate soil temperature.

Have poor soil on your land? Try sheet mulching! This process has the power to revitalize soil and prevent weeds.

5. Plant cover crops

Cover crops are such an underutilized, economical, and user-friendly way to build soil health. I highly recommend planting them between food crops because they:

  • Protect the soil from damage and erosion

  • Feed soil microbes

  • Replenish nitrogen in the soil

  • Attract benenficials

  • Improve soil structure and water-holding capacity

Fava beans are an easy and accessible cover crop, which is why they’re my favorite to plant!

6. Water deeply and thoroughly

Roots grow where the water goes. It’s important for the health of both the soil and plants to water deeply. Healthy soil holds water like a sponge, making it available to plants for longer. It also prevents flooding or run-off from washing into a storm drain.

Soil Health Beyond the Garden

Healthy soil = healthy plants = better water-holding capacity and fewer pests

By improving the health of the soil, you create more resilient plants. By focusing on the foundation, you find more success and bounty with less work long-term. 

Beyond that, your garden’s healthy soil is a climate solution that:

  • Draws down and sequesters carbon

  • Reduces the use of chemical inputs made from fossil fuels

  • Builds resilience against droughts and floods

  • Protects against soil desertification and erosion

  • Reduces stormwater runoff and filters out pollution

Ways We Can Grow Together

I believe the choices we make within our gardens affect the larger ecosystem around them. Starting with the soil, we can choose non-toxic solutions to grow abundant, sustainable gardens and communities from the ground up.

Soil health is a topic in many of the educational presentations I give to garden clubs, business groups, organizations, and agencies. Book me for your next in-person or virtual event! 

Suzanne Bontempo