LET'S GET DOWN TO EARTH

A key to good soil, says Becky Searle, is understanding its structure and allowing it to develop naturally

- Becky Searle

We gardeners obsess about soil. We talk about it, we read about it, we complain about it and we work it. We add to our soils, we dig our soils, we test our soils, and we plant in our soils. When asked what they would most like to receive for Christmas, many gardeners say: “A large pile of manure” (much to the frustration of our family and friends who would rather we just asked for socks). But, the thing that we prize above anything else is good soil structure. That beautiful crumbly loam that is easy to plant into, and easy to weed. That’s the dream.

I once had an allotment that was such heavy clay it would feel like I was walking through treacle on a wet day. My kids would enjoy rolling it into balls and making little cups and bowls out of it. Then, in the summer it would dry and crack like a photograph from a climate change documentary. A few years later I find myself working soil that some people would more readily associate with a kid’s sandpit than a flower bed. In fact, if I dig down more than a few inches the sand is yellow and soft like builder’s sand.

It would be tempting to think that these two soils need different things to correct them. But these two types of soil have one very important similarity. They are both lacking aggregation.

AGGREGATION

Put simply, aggregation is the process by which tiny particles in the soil are stuck together. It makes sense that you might want this on sandy soil. If you try to dig it on a particularly windy day you risk losing half of it into the nearest hedgerow. So having it stuck together a little sounds like a good plan.