The Carbon Effect

The link between soil health, carbon and healthy plants

We’ve always stressed how important soil health is to plant health, but our friends at Madumbi are the experts so we asked them to give us a more in-depth understanding of this fascinating subject.

Fact: The nutrient content of a plant’s tissues is directly related to the nutrient content of the soil, and its ability to exchange nutrients and water with plant roots. (FAO – Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations fao.org/ soils-2015)

In simpler terms, plant health and soil health go hand-in-hand. South African gardens are made up of a wide range of different soil types, each with their own properties, benefits and challenges. Soil is the foundation of a good garden and as our understanding of soil health grows so too does the priority of building soil.

What do we mean by building soil? T

o build a house you need bricks, cement and a team of builders. We all understand that – but how do we as gardeners go about building soil?

At Madumbi, our reference point starts with nature, where soil is formed primarily in two ways:

Physical and chemical: The weathering of rocks, into smaller and smaller fragments that ultimately lead to soil formation.