Combat declining garden soil fertility

We all know that a fertile garden is a good thing, but what does it mean exactly?

Fertile soil is a place rich with nutrients and inviting for plant life to flourish. What is not widely known is that soil quality and productivity are linked strongly to the stock of carbon, or the organic matter in it. Soil rich in carbon is fertile soil.

So how do you return more carbon to your soil and boost its fertility? With the carbon-rich foundation of soil fertility - humus.

Humus is dark, organic material that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays. When plants drop leaves, twigs, and other material to the ground, it piles up as leaf litter. When animals die, big or small, their remains add to the litter. Over time, all this litter decomposes, breaking down into its most basic chemical elements. The thick brown or black substance which remains after most of the organic litter has decomposed is called humus.

In what may seem paradoxical, overusing conventional fertilisers can result in less fertile soil over time. Nitrogen in fertilisers boosts soil microbial activity but doesn’t provide the necessary carbon a balanced soil diet requires. As organic matter is the natural source of carbon, its depletion will impact plant growth. Soil carbon needs restocking.

There is a natural way to restore and even increase soil carbon, all the while ensuring it doesn’t get released back into the atmosphere. By creating a controlled environment which allows for organic matter to break down into the base elements required for carbon restocking, you’re creating humus with the most naturally rich content available for your soil.

Homemade compost is a practical and effective solution for reversing the decline in soil fertility by restocking the carbon in your soil - and doing the right thing for the environment.