Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
If we use toxic chemical fertilizers or pesticides, or withhold water from the landscape
(such as by using drip irrigation), or do a lot of deep rototilling or other soil disturbance,
many of these soil workers probably won't be around for very long. Even if we do
something seemingly benign, like use any of the horticultural soap products, we destroy
many of them. We really, really want them to be around. Without them, our garden be-
comes a desert.
So rather than thinking about taking care of our plants, it might be more appropriate to
think about taking care of our soil food web, including our bacteria, fungi and protists —
our microorganisms, or microbes for short.
Getting familiar with them is the first step towards creating a healthy garden. Some of
our most important gardening tasks involve making sure we have enough microbes. Most
of our other tasks involve making sure they have what they need.
