Soil Health Systems Are for Everyone

A good portion of my daily work involves conservation best management practices for agricultural operations.  These BMPs are the management systems that we promote to help farmers improve soil health while reducing their inputs and thereby reducing their risk of phosphorus runoff, which contributes to the harmful algal blooms.  Through the research and promotion of these various conservation practices, I’ve found that they are not only beneficial for farmers and their soils, but also for home gardens.  No matter the size of your garden (or farm), the principles to improve soil health are generally the same.
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Here are a few examples:

• Soil Testing & Nutrient Management - whether you are growing a field of corn, a patch of tomatoes, or just trying to improve your lawn, a good first step is testing your soil.  A soil test will tell you the current state of your soil, the available nutrients, the pH, the percentage of organic matter, etc.  Knowing the characteristics of your soil will help determine what your soil needs to adequately grow your plants.  

 

• Diversifying & Crop Rotation - growing the same thing on the same patch of soil year after year makes your plants more susceptible to disease and degrades the soil.  For farmers it is recommended to rotate crops, and the same can be said for home gardens.  A given plant, whether it is a stalk of corn, a flower, or a tomato, will pull certain nutrients from the soil.  Growing a diverse mix of plants adds a diverse mix of roots and organic matter to your soil.  What nutrients one plant pulls from the soil, another may add.  Even in your lawn, having some clover growing amongst your grass gives the lawn added nutrients without the need of applying fertilizers.

 

• Cover Crops - the method of farmers using cover crops to add biodiversity to their soils and protect the ground from weathering while not growing a cash crop also works for your home garden.  Growing a cover crop after your harvest is completed will help retain nutrients, add biodiversity, and protect the soil for next year's planting.  Cover crops also help suppress weeds, conserve water, and keep the soil biology active. 

 

• No-Till - there has been a lot of talk lately for farmers to adopt no-till (no tillage) as a conservation practice.  Tillage (turning the top few inches of topsoil) is typically done to kill weeds and prepare the area for planting.  However doing so destroys the structure of the soil, undoing the benefits that have been developed by other conservation practices.  Tillage also increases the risk of sediment and nutrient runoff.  So if you are adopting soil health practices, whether on a farm field or a garden, don’t undo all that work by turning your soil!  Only disturb/dig the exact places where you will be planting and leave the rest of the soil intact.

 

• Mulching - after you’ve harvested your crop/vegetables or your flowers have begun to dry out for the season, there is often the question of what to do with the leftover plant matter.  Mulch it and leave it!  Chopping up all the plant matter and returning it to the soil will add organic matter and nutrients to the soil.  This works for cover crops and lawns too.  Mulching your plants and leaves and adding them back into your soil is like getting free fertilizer.  That plant residue also helps the soil retain water and suppress weeds.

 
Don’t feel pressured to try all of these practices right away.  Start small with one practice, like soil testing, and build from there.  Adopting just one of these practices will benefit your soil in multiple ways, improving the health of your plants and reducing the amount of time, water, and fertilizer that you need to spend on maintaining your garden.  And remember that the same principles apply, whether you are working on a small garden bed or acres of farm field.

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Author: Matthew Browne

H2Ohio Technician
mbrowne@co.lucas.oh.us
(419) 893-1966 3#