THE GOOD SOIL

If you want to create the ideal growing medium for your plants, soil conditioning rather than fertilising is the way to go

The challenges presented by gardening in dry, lifeless soils can seem endless - and incredibly frustrating. It can almost put us off gardening all together. Plants struggle to grow and no matter how much we water and fertilise, the garden doesn't seem to come good. We regularly add products but our gardens still have trouble coping, especially when really dry weather hits.

We can blame the weather but the reason why the soil is dry is because it is lifeless and that is down to our own gardening practices, such as the use of fertiiser. In fact, some people have begun to ask if adding fertiliser is necessary or beneficial; after all, plants grow in the forest without it.

"In the forest, up to 90 per cent of all the nutrients taken up by plants is done so through microbial action. The combination of natural organic matter and rock minerals deposited in the forest are enough to support entire plant ecosystems," says Colin Johnson of Earthlife.