I remember the day in May I dug up all the perennials in a 30 foot bed in my country garden. Even as a relatively new gardener, I knew the soil in the bed was too sandy. The plants were struggling and would never be their best without more nutrients. I remember the hard work of shovelling wheelbarrow loads of sand out of the bed and replacing it with load after load of composted sheep manure and peat moss. By supper time, the plants in place.
Looking back, the biggest lesson I took from that gardening effort was to never take soil for granted. It needs care and protection, just like all other things in the garden. It's a lesson I am thinking about today.
Looking back, the biggest lesson I took from that gardening effort was to never take soil for granted. It needs care and protection, just like all other things in the garden. It's a lesson I am thinking about today.
Today is World Soil Day
As the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations declares that "soils have been neglected for too long. We fail to connect soil with our food, water, climate, biodiversity and life. We must invert this tendency and take up some preserving and restoring actions."
The UN initiative Global Soil Partnership has taken on the task of activating concern about soil.
They remind us that soil is "the reservoir for at least a quarter of global biodiversity, and therefore requires the same attention as above-ground biodiversity. Soils play a key role in the supply of clean water and resilience to floods and droughts. The largest store of terrestrial carbon is in the soil so that its preservation may contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. The maintenance or enhancement of global soil resources is essential if humanity’s need for food, water, and energy security is to be
met.
The UN initiative Global Soil Partnership has taken on the task of activating concern about soil.
They remind us that soil is "the reservoir for at least a quarter of global biodiversity, and therefore requires the same attention as above-ground biodiversity. Soils play a key role in the supply of clean water and resilience to floods and droughts. The largest store of terrestrial carbon is in the soil so that its preservation may contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. The maintenance or enhancement of global soil resources is essential if humanity’s need for food, water, and energy security is to be
met.
While the Global Soil Partnership pursues soil research and education, what can we as individual gardeners do?
We can start by learning more about the soil we depend on. We can understand its composition and what it takes to keep it healthy – right in our own backyards.
And the very best resource I know is an excellent documentary directed by Deborah Koons Garcia, called Symphony of the Soil.
This beautiful film will change how you see soil.
We can start by learning more about the soil we depend on. We can understand its composition and what it takes to keep it healthy – right in our own backyards.
And the very best resource I know is an excellent documentary directed by Deborah Koons Garcia, called Symphony of the Soil.
This beautiful film will change how you see soil.
World Soil Day closes 2015 as the UN International Year of Soil – officially – but for each of us, it is a beginning. A chance to think about the soil in our gardens and under our feet.
