Gardening Soil Amendments Organic

Gardening Soil Amendments:  Organic Recycling

In order to grow a bountiful crop, you nearly always need to add some kind of gardening soil amendments.  Organic gardening is no exception.  It’s what you add to the soil that makes the difference.

There are many kinds of gardening soil amendments. Organic gardening relies mostly on compost and manure.  Earthworm castings, peat and green manure (plowed under cover crops) are also used.  Most gardeners must buy their gardening soil amendments; organic gardeners make theirs.

Manure
Not all manure is suitable for gardening.  For instance, feline manure is not suitable because cats are carnivores, and their feces may contain microorganisms that we do not want to get into our food chain.  Most gardening manure comes from herbivores, such as cows, rabbits or chickens.

Manure adds nitrogen and other micronutrients to the soil.  It helps bind sandy soil together.  Sometimes straw is added to manure to help break up clay soil and improve the water carrying capacity of the soil.

When using manure as a gardening soil amendment, organic gardeners should look at the source of the manure, and make sure it is organic manure.  Cow manure is a great soil additive, but if the cow has been given commercial cow feed, it may contain dangerous microorganisms (like mad cow disease).  If the cow has been given antibiotics or hormones, these are also in the manure, and will find their way into our food chain. 

Compost
The other gardening soil amendment that organic farmers use is compost.  Compost adds nutrients to the soil, but it acts primarily as bulk.  It improves the water holding capacity of the soil, holds sandy soil together and breaks up clay soil.

Compost is the easiest soil amendment to make.  To make compost the “long” way, you simply collect vegetable matter and let it break down into compost.  Grass clippings, vegetable scraps, leaves—anything vegetable can go into the compost heap.  Over time, it will become a heap of rich soil instead of compost.

When it’s time to add gardening soil amendments, organic gardeners who have a compost heap are ready to go.  They may also use manure to enrich their soil.  Of all the available gardening soil amendments, organic mulch and manure are the most complete, as they contain micronutrients not found in commercial fertilizers.  Organic is definitely the way to go with soil amendments.