I’m a day late, but what the hell? It’s a great cause, so I’m adding this post to many others for Save the Soils! blogger action day (in my case action day +1… well, what do you expect from a snail?).
When we moved into Chez Snail we didn’t have any soil…we had a thin layer of clay, a patio and a lawn. But where was our soil? Surely there must have been some over the land at some point in the past? The answer, of course, was that the soil had been stripped off the land when the house was built and, no doubt, had been sold (valuable stuff, top soil).
Soil in our garden where there used to be none
So, we started making soil… we collected bags of moss raked out of friends’ lawns and sacks of leaves; we made compost from grass clippings and cardboard and kitchen scraps; we got chickens and used their soiled bedding; we built raised beds and primed them with some bought-in soil and them added any organic matter we could think of; we planted a willow hedge, chipped the prunings and incorporated these; we learned to compost dog poo safely ; we boosted nitrogen with urine; we shredded all our confidential waste and added this to the garden, we trained the neighbours to deliver their grass clipping to us… and fifteen years on we do have a productive plot that contributes significantly to our diet.
Bacteria are so important in soil… ok this is a crochet one, but I didn’t have a microscope to hand!
But soil is not just about organic matter – it also contains a mineral element (which varies according to the nature of your bedrock) and lots of living things – from those we can see (like earthworms) to microscopic bacteria, algae, cyanobacteria and fungi. And then there are the marvellous, magical mycorrhiza (also fungi)… mostly hidden from view, but bursting forth into our world when they produce their fruiting bodies – mushrooms and toadstools. And it’s these living things that make to soil the wonderful, productive and dynamic system that it is. Bacteria in the soil and in the roots of some plants can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere… converting it into forms that are available to other living things (like us). Micro-organisms break down dead stuff – plants and animals – converting their bodies into more soil and freeing the nutrients held within them. Without micro-organisms we’d be drowning in dead stuff!
All that soil building really pays off
Living things participate in a great cycle of nutrient transfer and harvesting crops means we deplete the soil… hence the importance of putting organic matter back in through composting. Artificial fertilisers just don’t deliver the goods – they give a short-term boost, making micro-organisms go berserk, but leaving the soil depleted or imbalanced in the long term. Compost, on the other hand contains carbon and nitrogen in balance and so the soil micro-organisms get a balanced diet and continue to thrive. Not only that, but compost improves soil structure and enhances water retention… both key to productive plant growth. Plus, if you make compost, you are keeping material out of landfill and building up a bigger carbon store in your garden… every little helps when it comes to reducing our carbon emissions!
So building good soil is a win-win-win-win situation. Even if you only have a tiny back yard or a balcony, you can build a little area of good soil… and if you have no outdoor space, make sure your organic waste goes to a municipal composting facility, so it can boost soil building somewhere else. We can all do something to improve the soil that is the foundation of our lives… after all, without it we are not going to have much to eat!
P.S. In case you didn’t know, I’m an ecologist by training… I’m getting off my soapbox now
The Snail of Happiness 
Wild Daffodil
/ January 22, 2015Crochet bacteria! Love it!!!!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 22, 2015I’ve got crochet fungi and lichens too… not to mention knitted worms and slugs!!
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daniellajoe
/ January 22, 2015Wow!! I learned a lot, i love gardening but the weeds and the frogs or snakes….. How do you keep away these animal critters??
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 22, 2015Round here we don’t have snakes and we love any frogs that appear because they eat the slugs. As for weeds, I think it’s just one of those never-ending tasks… but they get composted too, so there is some benefit.
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daniellajoe
/ January 22, 2015happy gardening 🙂
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katechiconi
/ January 22, 2015When I die, I’d like to come back as soil. In fact, I’d like someone to dig a large hole, slip me in in my woollen shroud (no boxes, thanks), cover me with chicken poo and compost (I’ll supply the blood and bone), add a slug of seaweed extract, and then top me off with a cherry tree. I think I have some very interesting microorganisms to contribute!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 22, 2015And that way you will live forever!
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katechiconi
/ January 22, 2015Shame it’s illegal to make soil that way….
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 22, 2015Well, it is at the moment, but maybe we will be a bit more enlightened in the future!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 22, 2015And in related news, this is interesting: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/21/death-in-the-city-what-happens-cemeteries-full-cost-dying
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katechiconi
/ January 22, 2015Interesting…. The transitory nature of graves these days is going to give future ancestor-hunters a headache!
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Lori Fontanes
/ January 22, 2015I love that crochet critter, too!!! So *that’s* what ecologists do in their spare time! Thanks so much, Dr. Snail! It’s so wonderful to have such a learned creature chiming in on our Save the Soils project. 😀 Happy knitting/crocheting/digging!!!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 22, 2015I have several ecologist friends who crochet and knit… I wonder why
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cambridgearomatherapy
/ January 22, 2015Not a bad soap box to be on!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 22, 2015But perhaps it should be a seed tray… or a compost bin!
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thecontentedcrafter
/ January 22, 2015What an excellent and uplifting and enlightening read first thing on a fine summers morning. Thank you for starting off my day so very nicely! You know my ears perked up at turning dog poo into compost safely – have you written about this before I arrived? If you haven’t please will you ….? 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 22, 2015There is a post that probably needs an update soon as it’s quite old: https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2013/08/12/dog-poo-experiments/
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thecontentedcrafter
/ January 22, 2015Thanks for the link – what an interesting experiment – and professor! 🙂 It’s good to know most everything is compostable and as I think that in the wild faeces would work their way into the soil and readily add their ingredients to the roots of trees and bushes etc., it all makes absolute sense. I’ll be interested to read any update you wish to write 🙂
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narf77
/ January 23, 2015An awesome post Ms Snail and much better than mine was ;). Did you ever write a post about composting dog poo? I would be most interested! We use our urine on our garden now. It stops the water of nutrients as well as water (flushing) and is especially awesome on the citrus trees. SO with you on the soil building. You would be amazed what a sad old patch of “dirt” can become with some quality soil amendments and once the soil biota start moving in, you have a whole microscopic and tiny world going mental right under your nose 🙂
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insearchofitall
/ January 23, 2015I will start making soil this spring now that I have almost finished moving into my home. We have hard, dense clay and I have a book called lasagna gardening that talks about how to enrich the soil. It’s a very important subject. I had always composted when I lived in a house. Now I have to do it carefully so no one can see. There are RULES here. Silly people. You explain it so well. Thank you.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 23, 2015I love lasagne gardening – it works so well!
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wscottling
/ January 23, 2015Your blog and others like it are inspiring to me. The hubs and I are looking for a house with some land, and I seriously want to start growing stuff and have some hens and maybe some goats. I think that if I had a plot of land to take care of, maybe I could stop my wandering ways. ^_^
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 23, 2015Growing things makes you feel very connected to the land – I never dreamed we would stay in our house so long (15 years so far) and I think a lot of that is because of the garden and the work we have put into it.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 23, 2015I do hope you find somewhere to put down some deep roots and nurture yourselves as well as the land ❤
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wscottling
/ January 23, 2015My husband hopes so too… he doesn’t have my gypsy soul. ^_^ hahahaha!
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