Healthy Soil and Composting

It's not just Dirt man, it's Soil! Some people use the words "dirt" and "soil" as though they are the same thing. In my mind, soil is the habitat that feeds our plants. Soil is living matter, a variety of physical, chemical, and biological forces constantly at work. It may or may not surprise you to know that soil consists of five major ingredients: AIR, water, inorganic bits of rock and mineral, humus, and living organisms.

Dirt, well, dirt is a different matter altogether, LOL... dirt is what you have all over your clothes, under your fingernails, and smeared all over your face after a long day in the garden. It is in every crack in the sole of your shoe, it is all over the side of your leg where you habitually wipe it off your hand, it is on your waist where your hands go as you take on "the pose" of concentration... whatever you personally call it, get to know it... personally.

"Every time you take a step in a mature Oregon forest, your foot is being supported on the backs of 16,000 invertebrates held up by an average total of 120,000 legs."
- Dr. Andrew Moldenke, Oregon State University.

Start out learning about soil with the article, Intro to Soil Fertility

Feeding the Soil Organically

Composting
Organic feeding of the soil doesn't get any easier than this! Learn how to compost and learn how to troubleshoot problems with your compost.
Organic Fertilizers
When used in reference to fertilizers, the word organic generally means that the nutrients contained in the product are derived solely from the remains or a by-product of an organism.

Soil Composition

Understanding Soil pH
Learn how to identify your soil's pH, how it affects your plant's food and how to ammend your own garden soil.
What Affects the Absorption of Soil Nutrients?
The most important thing? Read it!
The Soil Test
A soil test will indicate the site's fertility and pH. Learn how and when to test your soil.

The earth neither grows old or wears out if it is dunged.
- Columella, circa 45 A.D.

Build Your Own!

Learn how to create your own geodesic dome green house and have your own 'Organic Food Factory' providing you and your family with incredible food, year round, even in the dead of winter! Click Here!

What's New?

Discover how to easily build an attractive and affordable greenhouse that will grow anything in any conditions. Also, building your own greenhouse just makes economical sense. You can build a greenhouse at just a fraction of the cost of buying a pre-built one. Most pre-built greenhouse you buy need to be assembled anyway, you are really just paying hugely inflated prices for the material.

Click Here!

Book of the Month

Grow the vegetables and fruits your family loves; keep bees, raise chickens, goats, or even a cow! The Backyard Homestead shows you how it's done. And when the harvest is in, you'll learn how to cook, preserve, cure, brew, or pickle the fruits of your labor.