Soil

Soil

Ah good ole' dirt, digging in the dirt reminds me of being a kid. In modern times many of us are not immersed in the production of our own food, so we only know so much about how to make life work it's magic.So you dig a whole in the ground, plant a seed, water it and wait for the sun to do it's thing and life to begin. Ah farming is such easy, simply work isn't it?

 

For those of you like me who want your plants to do well, you'll need more than just plain ole' dirt, you need soil comprised of various parts to help promote plant life in various methods. Not all soils are built the same, given the right kind of soil mixture your plant may not simply live, but thrive. There are a number of things to factor in but for the sake of simplicity I'm going to just start off with an easy mix of:

1 part sand

1 part organic potting soil

1 part peat moss

and a couple handfuls of small rocks

The sand allows stability and aeration through the soil. Potting soil is premixed from a variety of components, I'm going to go with organic potting soil that has no pesticides or added chemicals. Ideally I want to grow something where I could pluck fruit off of the plant, rinse it off and eat it without worrying about strangely named chemicals. Peat moss can be substituted with a number of things, though I like it because it helps en richen your soil by promoting life within the soil, not just popping out of the top of a pot.

Small pebbles or tiny aquarium rocks are great for soil because they provide stability for root systems as well as breaking up the soil, promoting good soil drainage and aeration of your soil.

Depending on the type of plant you have, your soil will vary of course but this is a good agricultural base for me to work with. You want your soil to be able to breath and promote life within itself in order to promote a life to come from it. As a rule of thumb, you'll want dark, hummus rich soil that does not contain too much clay (a little clay is good, it adds stability to the soil).

There is plenty more to say about your soil, like Ph balance and nutrients, but this will all come in time. Let's hope I don't simply end up killing a bunch of seeds!

Until next time