Measure, Monitor, Manage: How We Care for Our Soil

December 05, 2024

This week marks the annual celebration of World Soil Day. This year's theme centres around caring for your soil: Measure, Monitor, and Manage. Understanding how to care for your soil is essential for food production, supporting ecosystems, and environmental health, and also highlighting our planet's need for more sustainable soil management practices.

Fun Fact: Soil is ALIVE! And essential for our planet’s survival, more than 95% of our food comes from soil. The soil provides nutrients to our plants and the crops that are grown, supports biodiversity, and maintains the habitat's natural ecosystem. Although it may seem like soil is a never-ending source it can actually take up to 1,00 years to produce 2 to 3 centimeters of topsoil, therefore proper maintenance and care is vital for soil preservation.

What can we do to improve our soil health?

Soil is an essential element to your land, garden, and outdoor space. Therefore, providing the appropriate care creates a solid foundation for your outdoor space to thrive, no matter the weather. There are 3 ways you can measure soil quality: biologically, chemically, and physically, however, chemical and physical methods are a lot easier to conduct at home.

Measure:

Taking various soil measurements is crucial for your soil's sustainability and overall health. Without taking appropriate measurements, you will not be able to manage your soil effectively, promote its viability and health, and maintain its ideal state when growing various plants and crops. Measuring your soil's overall health also allows you to monitor and manage your soil accordingly in the next steps.

You can take various soil measurements to learn the current state of the ground beneath you.

For those involved in the agricultural sector where wide-scale care and maintenance are needed, soil sampling and lab testing would be a suitable option for detailed and accurate results.

You can also conduct home tests of the soil in your garden as many of us do not have laboratories at our disposal! There are various methods of soil testing you can undertake, some examples of these include:

Dig a hole: In the desired area of your outdoor space dig a small hole around 10cm deep, here you can see how well your soil is structured, how strong your roots are looking, and how well your soil is retaining water. Four free ways you can test your soil today
Counting worms: As mentioned above, although it may not seem like it, the soil is, in fact, alive, and consists of several different species, most are nearly impossible to see, however, worms are a great method to indicate how healthy your soil is if you regularly notice worms deep in your soil and scattered within the ground beneath you this suggests your soil is healthy and successfully supporting the ecosystems within it.
Purchase a soil testing kit: A soil test kit will measure the basic texture of your soil, (sand, silt, or clay) and your soil's pH level (most plants do well in an optimal soil pH between 6 to 7.5). Available nutrients including magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium levels are calculated. This knowledge will allow you to make smarter choices when it comes to your garden, allotment, or outdoor space. It is recommended you retest your soil health every 3 to 5 years for optimum plant growth.

Monitor:

To ensure the health of your soil is sustained over time, it’s essential that regular soil measurements continue being taken. Although measurement and monitoring techniques are similar, the scope and objective of these approaches to maintaining optimum soil health differ slightly. Monitoring soil health allows you to understand how soil is impacted by seasonal changes, environmental conditions, and crop growth.

An essential part of monitoring the health of your soil is to also monitor the causes of poor soil quality:

Over-farming
Poor crop rotation
Water Shortages
Flooding
Pesticides
New Homes (Healthy topsoil is stripped away during the building process)

The methods of monitoring soil health are essentially the same as those mentioned above in the measurement processes. Monitoring your soil over a long-term process ensures that you remain up-to-date on the various states of your soil and have the tools and knowledge to act quickly and efficiently in the event of decreased soil quality. This is noticeable by:

Poor soil texture: Soil that is filled with stones, sandy, unworkable, and the ground may be more susceptible to flooding.
Poor crop quality: Your crops are developing diseases, and are not growing as quickly as they should be.
Lack of wildlife: If you notice there’s less wildlife surrounding your outdoor space such as bees and worms, this could be down to poor soil quality.

Manage:

The third and final step to preserving optimum soil quality is once you have measured the current state of your soil and have the tools and knowledge of how best to monitor your soil over time, knowing how to maintain and personally control the health of your soil is essential to its ability to serve our planet. Some methods for managing your soil include:

Reducing soil compaction: Compact soil will not drain easily and can become very hard to work, experiencing little to no aeration, therefore becoming an unhabitual environment for the various species that usually thrive in soil. Digging helps improve soil quality, rotating the soil, allowing air into beneath us, and promoting the soil's overall quality and fertility. For heavy soils such as clay, it’s recommended to dig during the autumn to avoid the frozen ground and heavy clumps caused by winter frosts. For lighter soils such as sand, it’s recommended that you dig during the winter or early spring.
Include organic matter: A great addition to your soil care plan, acting as an all-rounder for soil and plant health, combining organic matter essentially feeds the soil with nutrients for plants to absorb for their optimum growth. Organic matter also prevents the heavier soils from sticking together and becoming unworkable and starved of oxygen. Therefore, air and water can reach the plant's roots, and allow more space for water to absorb preventing the likelihood of flooding.
Rotating your crops: Changing where you grow each crop is great for preventing pests and diseases from building up, infusing nitrogen into your soil as it’s an essential nutrient, and improving soil structure and fertility. Rotating crops each year so that the same family of vegetables aren’t grown in the same place for over three years, means that there is significant time for these soil pathogens to die.

There are many instruments you can use to help measure, monitor, and manage your soil and outdoor space, specifically for soil management why not try a soil thermometer? Great for specific soil temperature measurements, our bundle allows you to monitor various soil temperatures simultaneously.

The Sun and Shade Soil Thermometer Bundle

Conclusion:

Soil is our biggest weapon against climate change! Responsible for almost all of our food production and a retainer of the dreaded carbon, we must do whatever possible to care for our soil, including measuring, monitoring, and managing our outdoor spaces, whatever they may be. There are various methods to measure and monitor your soil such as soil sampling, worm counts, and using soil testing kits to measure your soil's biological, chemical, and physical state. Keeping up to date on your soil health is important so that you can manage your plants, crops, or general living space, you can do this by aerating your soil through digging, including organic matter such as dead leaves, pruning plants, and organic food waste. Lastly, rotating your crop's growth area to prevent pests and diseases and to maintain your soil's overall quality.

FAQs:

What is soil health?
Soil health refers to the soil condition and its ability to support plant growth, maintain environmental quality, and promote plant and animal health. Healthy soil has a balanced amount of minerals, organic matter, air, and water, and it supports a community of organisms.

What are the key indicators of soil health?
Soil Texture: Balance of sand, silt, and clay.
Soil Structure: Formation of aggregates or clumps that provide air and water infiltration.
Soil pH: The optimal range for most plants is 6-7.
Organic Matter: Decomposed plant and animal materials.
Nutrient Levels: Availability of essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Biological Activity: Earthworms, microorganisms, and other soil organisms.

How often should I test my soil?
The general recommendation is to test your soil every 2-3 years.
High-Intensity Farming or Gardening: Annual testing may be necessary.
For new areas, test your soil before starting any new planting or landscaping project.

How can I maintain soil moisture effectively?
Mulching: Reduces evaporation and keeps soil cool.
Irrigation Management: Use efficient watering techniques such as drip irrigation.
Incorporate organic matter to improve water retention.
Plant Selection: Choose drought-tolerant plants suited to your climate.

What is soil erosion and how can it be prevented?
Soil erosion is the removal of topsoil by wind, water, or human activity.

It can be prevented by:

Planting Cover Crops to prevent soil from being exposed to the elements.
Mulching, (covering the soil surface around plants, is made from materials such as compost, grass clippings, hay, and leaves. It protects soil from erosion and adds organic matter.
Terracing, where a sloping piece of land is transformed into step-like areas, is great for reducing slope and water runoff.
Contour Farming: Ploughing along the contour lines to reduce soil erosion.