Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
mostly big clods. It's okay if yours is mostly in big clods, because you're going to im-
prove it over the next few years.
Break up the remaining soil and count the earthworms. There are a few geographic
areas that don't have earthworms, and very sandy soils are often low, but most garden
soils should have some. Earthworms are sensitive to their environment and chemicals, so
if you have them it's a good sign. If you have 10 in that square foot of soil you've pulled
out, you're doing okay. More is even better. I'm thrilled when I can find 25 of them in an
eight-inch square soil cube.
You can also look down at your soil for other insects. If you have a mulch layer, peel it
back and see what's living there. A magnifying glass helps with this. You may even be
able to see fungal mycelium, especially around plant roots, and if you have nitrogen-fix-
ing plants like peas and beans, you should be able to dig up a plant and find the tiny
spherical nodules that house the bacteria on their roots.
Look into your hole. Do you have a defined topsoil level that is darker than the soil be-
low? The darker it is, the more organic matter content. Measure that darker layer. Unlike
in conventional agriculture, where the topsoil and organic matter have rapidly decreased
over the last 50 years, we're going to increase yours over the next few years, so it's nice to
know where we're starting.
Did you dig in an area where there were some roots? The deeper they go, the better. If
they're stopping at a certain depth and growing sideways, there may be a hardpan there
that we will slowly break up when we plant strong, tap-rooted plants and when we in-
crease the organic matter content of the soil. A lack of fine root hairs in your soil profile
will indicate a lack of oxygen.
