A Healthy Garden in 5 Steps

A Healthy Garden in 5 Steps

What is the single most important factor to sustainably grow nutrient rich vegetables for your
family year after year?
Your Soil
Your soil holds the key to providing the most flavorful, healthy and enjoyable vegetables that
you can grow.
Of course water is essential, we all know that. And quality seeds lined up with your location and
site conditions are important. But soil is a magical universe that correctly understood and
cultivated will allow you to grow an amazing garden. Ignore it and you will ALWAYS struggle.

So how do you build healthy organic soil that will provide for you and your family year after
year?
First, we have got to take a look at what soil needs to thrive and then we can lay out a plan for
building great soil on your homestead and in your garden.

Healthy organic soil requires six things-

1. It’s got to be chemical free.

Chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and fungicides are not your friend!
They appear helpful at first but always lead to bigger problems and cause long
term damage in the end.
2. Water
Every living thing needs water right? Your soil is alive, or should be…otherwise
it’s just dirt! Sandy soils drain water because they are very porous so we have to
figure out a way to hold more water if we have sandy soil.
3. Oxygen
All living things also need oxygen. Now clay soils are the opposite of sandy soils
and hold water leaving little room for oxygen, so we need a solution for this.
Interestingly, it’s pretty much the same solution we use for sandy soil

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 A Healthy Garden in 5 Steps
4. Humus
This is the gardener’s word for carbon. Carbon is the structure upon which all of
life is built. Humus gives structure to your soil and begins to solve the problem of
too much drainage (sandy soil) or not enough (clay soil). Building humus is the
key function to building healthy soil.
5. Minerals
Minerals are another essential for life. There are always minerals in the soil, but
they are not always available and can be depleted. In sandy soils minerals are
easily leached away, in clay they are bound up and often inaccessible. So we
need to create soil that will hold and unlock the available minerals. In the
meantime we may need to add minerals for overall health and specific
geographic deficiencies.
6. Microbial Life
The difference between soil and plain ol’ dirt is LIFE! Dirt is lifeless. Soil is
teeming with millions of individual microscopic life forms in every teaspoon. Not
to mention worms, beneficial bugs and more! These life forms are the workers
that break down the elements in the soil into a form that plants can use. It’s
really amazing and a universe in and of its self if you ever want to explore it. But
for now you just need to know that there are tons (literally per acre) of life in the
soil and for a healthy garden you have to support that microbial life in your soil.

So, for healthy soil you want to be:

Chemical Free
Oxygenated
Hydrated
Carbonated (well, sort of... you know what I mean. ;)
Mineral Rich
And Microbially Abundant

That all sounds like a lot and might seem complicated, but it’s really not. You just need to take
some basic steps in order for your soil to thrive. When you take these steps your garden will
thrive and will be less work. Who doesn’t want that?

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 A Healthy Garden in 5 Steps

So what’s the plan?

Here’s 5 simple steps that you can take to build healthy rich soil which will result in nutrient
rich vegetables from your garden year after year after year.
#1 Never add chemicals. Never ever! Find a natural solution. Chemicals kill the natural
life in your soil and work against everything else you do besides being bad for you.
#2 Add at least ½”-1” of well finished (not hot) organic compost to your garden every
growing season.* That is every time you start a new planting session. It might be once
a year or three times a year depending on what you are growing. Compost builds
humus, develops microbial life, adds nutrients to your soil, and develops proper soil
structure for holding the right balance of water and oxygen.
#3 Keep your soil covered with 3”-6” of mulch as much as possible.* Mulch helps build
humus and protects your soil from heat, evaporation, wind and erosion. It is nature’s
blanket and contributes to holding water and oxygen in your soil.
#4 Add Complete Organic Fertilizer (COF) to your garden at least once a growing season.
COF adds a broad balance of minerals and nutrients that your garden needs.
#5 Manage your water. It is best to water deeply and less frequently. Always check an
inch or two below the surface when determining if your water regimen is effective.
Another tip is to design your garden to capture water from rain events if you have
sandy soil and give water a path to escape so it doesn’t pool if you have heavy clay
soil.

That’s it!
If you take these five steps consistently you will build healthy soil that will provide nutrient rich
vegetables for you and your family year after year!

Happy Gardening!
Josh

*When starting a new garden from scratch you can often add more compost and mulch. In starting new gardens
on depleted ground I have added as much as 4” of quality compost on top of soil that had manure tilled in
and more than 6” of mulch on top of that. It was one of the best gardens we have ever had!

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