What goes on beneath the soil

Written by Dan the Gardener, What goes on beneath the soil details the intimate relationship between plants and the very soil they’re planted in. This post has been written by a gardening enthusiast and we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have.

The intimate relationship between plants and the soil is very complex. The concentration of nutrients and the type of soil is just part of this relationship. The silent partners of plants are worms and fungi and without either of these, plants would live in poor quality soil with l low levels of nutrients.

A sign of good soil health is the population of earthworms it holds. Earthworms break down organic matter and excreting it as humus, creating a finer quality and nutrient enriched soil. They are great to have in the compost bin as they rapidly eat through new material recycling it into compost. As gardeners, when we think of fungi we often think of the ones that infect our plants and ruin our crops , but there is a whole other dimension to these fantastic organisms.

Mycorrhizal fungi are root like file filaments that associate with the roots of nearly 95% of earth’s plants. There are thousands of different species, many of which are  host specific. Like earthworms, the mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in the soil/ They  break down organic matter such as dead plants and animals and recycle the nutrients for the host plant. In return for breaking down the previously inaccessible organic nutrients, the plants give the fungi carbohydrates. It has been found that mycorrhizal fungi can expand a plant’s potential for obtaining nutrients by over a hundred times. You can buy packets of mycorrhizal fungi in powdered form containing species that are well known to benefit the growth of fruit, vegetables and house plants.

Using packets of mycorrhizal fungi is simple. Either add the directed amount of fungi into the hole before you plant a seed or plant or use as a spray or in a watering can. As well as helping to feed your plants the fungi also aerate and stabilise the soil making it less prone to erosion and compaction. There are two types of gardeners; those who just care for the plant and those that care for the soil too, which in turns takes care of generations of plants.

Lots more interesting information can be found at Dan the Gardeners Childrens Gardening website. There is also a wide range of Childrens Gardening Tools to have a look at.