Traditional Soil Gardening

- Overview

Soil can be a wonderful natural resource, but it can also be a very time-consuming element to manage when you're trying to grow plants.

Some soils have powerful and fertile living soil network ecosystems. However, many clay- or sand-rich soil structures present challenges with water, nutrient availability, and planting texture. Many sites lack soil access because they need to deal with concrete, asphalt or rock.

Soil loses fertility as crops grow due to water runoff, erosion, wind and other soil-consuming events. In order to grow plants in soil, it is necessary to reapply compost or other fertilizers every growing season. 

Fertilizers containing only N – P – K (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) mean that growing plants will absorb these nutrients but may be depleted of other micronutrients such as calcium, boron, copper, iron, zinc, etc. Applying too much synthetic fertilizer or uncomposted manure can create salt problems that make the soil "too hot" to grow crops.

Managing weeds, pests, insects and diseases takes a lot of time from a gardener or farmer. Weeds crowd the plants, absorbing water and nutrients, not to mention wasting time killing or pulling them out. Pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals also kill precious soil microorganisms and pose a danger to bees, butterflies, birds, other animals and humans.

In large-scale industrial agriculture, agrochemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides) as well as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are of concern when selecting vegetables, fruits, and herbs. GMOs are not allowed on organically grown crops, but a variety of products do exist for pesticides.

The soil is difficult to water properly. Overwatering can cause flooding, evaporation, runoff, soil compaction, prevent air from reaching the roots and saturate the plant, killing it. In addition, too little water, hot and dry climate, drought and water shortage can also cause serious damage to plant growth and can easily lead to plant death.

Gardening can be an enjoyable pastime, but it also requires some digging, bending, and physical labor.

And the garden can be located in your backyard. Industrial farms are often thousands of miles away from where the food is consumed. This requires a lot of transportation, refrigeration and packaging to get food from farm to table.