When soil is left bare, it is more likely to become degraded over time.

Farmers forget to take care of the soil after a crop harvest, for the subsequent season. When the soil is not in good condition, plants can not thrive. It is high time farmers stopped treating soil like dirt. 

The soil is an ecosystem like any other, and like many other ecosystems on earth, this is an ecosystem that is often under threat.

Soils hold four times the amount of carbon stored in the atmosphere and more than in vegetation (trees and other plants). This means that taking care of the soil in our gardens and growing systems is crucial for carbon sequestration (long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to either mitigate or defer global warming). 

Taking care of and improving the soil in our gardens is about: making sure soil is not contaminated or structurally damaged, ensuring that nutrient depletion and water loss is minimised, maintaining good soil structure and nutritional content. 

Organic farming

Before you begin to consider how to improve the soil in your garden, make sure you are not damaging it. When we use harmful fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, we are throwing the system out of whack.

These damaging substances filtrate the topsoil and harm life within it, unbalancing the delicate system. 



By managing fertility, pests and diseases in a more holistic, sustainable and eco-friendly way, we can help ensure that soil can function as it should. We are working with nature rather than fighting it. 

Zero tillage

Every time we dig or till the soil, we damage the complex ecosystem below. Traditional gardening and farming involve disturbing the soil on a somewhat frequent basis.

But in a no-dig garden, we take steps to reduce soil disturbance as much as possible. Rather than incorporating matter into the soil ourselves – we lay the material on top of the surface and let earthworms and other soil life do this work for us.

By avoiding soil disturbance through zero tillage gardening methods, we increase the soil’s capacity to store carbon and do our part in the fight against global warming. 



Always cover the soil

When soil is left bare, it is more likely to become degraded over time. Bare soil should therefore be avoided whenever possible when trying to improve the soil in your garden.

Bare soil can be: eroded by rain and wind, leached of nutrients, overheated or dried out by the sun, waterlogged, or have its nutrients washed out by heavy rains, more easily than compacted one. By covering the soil, we can keep it protected, and build it up and improve it over time. Maintain the health and fertility of the soil by using green manures and cover crops.

They will not only keep soil covered and protected but can also, when chopped and dropped, add fertility and improve the structure of your garden soil.

Grow Nitrogen Fixers

One of the first stages in restoring degraded soil or improving soil that lacks essential plant nutrients is introducing nitrogen-fixing species. 

Nitrogen-fixing plants co-operate with beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their root rhizomes to gather atmospheric nitrogen and make it available in the soil. Nitrogen is one of the nutrients that is depleted most easily in garden soil.

So many of our most crucial organic gardening practices revolve around finding ways to replenish it. 

Adding nitrogen-fixing plants is one of the most important ways to improve your soil and ensure the system’s longevity. 

Crop rotation

Creating an effective crop rotation scheme for annual crops is one way to keep soil healthy and productive over time. If we grow the same crops in the same beds year after year, we risk depleting that soil of essential plant nutrients.

By rotating certain plant families, we can ensure that fertility is maintained and improved over time. Crop rotation can also help prevent the build-up of diseases or plant pathogens in the soil over time.