Buying organic compost isn’t just purchasing a truck load of manure anymore. Soil maintenance needs more than just manure. Maintaining healthy soil is at the heart of growing organic. I’ve heard it said “Feed the soil and the plants will take care of themselves”. That is a very true statment. Soil is extremely complex and far too technical to discuss in a short web article. The thing to remember is that eventually everything that lives will die and its substance returns to the soil to be recycled into new life. This is called Nature’s Law of Return. Compost is the ultimate soil food- it is how compacted, clay filled soils with little nutrient value can not only become restored but can maintain high levels of fertility.
I know it might sound overly simplistic to say that buying organic compost is your “first solution” to fixing soil problems but most of the time, it is! Have you got pests or diseases? Compost can fix that. Compacted clay soil? Compost can fix that. Not enough water or a drought? Compost can fix that as well as it greatly increases soils water holding capacity. They key is to find and buy good organic compost and work it into your soil.
Did you know that a single spade full of rich garden soil contains more species of organisms than can be found above ground in the entire Amazon rain forest? That’s what I learned when I watched “Dirt- The Movie” which everyone seriously needs to watch as you will be amazed! It won an award at the Sundance Film Festival for good reasons! Although soil appears quite solid, air moves freely in and out of it. The air in the upper 8 inches of well drained healthy soil is completly renewed every eight hours. (That fact you just read came from Soil Factoids at the US National Soil Survey Center).
If you are still questioning if you should spend money on buying organic compost and if it is really worth it, let me leave you with a very old quote
“Man’s work with Nature that furthers Nature’s aims is the work that rewards him the best.” (I- Ching)
I’m not about to argue that philosophy!