When I was a child as I stood watching my Grandpa Dunk preparing his spring garden, out would come his trusty Rototiller. How he would work up his veggie patch.

Back and forth, back and forth, he and the Rototiller would go.

The soil reminded me of fluffy cake frosting when all was said and done.

How beautiful the garden’s soil looked and the fresh aroma of dirt would perfume the air.

But not today. Now experts are telling us this is all wrong.

You see, deep down, deep in the soil, weed seeds are sitting, waiting, to be brought to the surface so they can sprout, and there are millions of them.

Scientists now want us to consider the inhabitants – those friendly soil dwellers – which are busily tending the soil: actinomycetes, fungi, microbes, protozoa, earthworms, nematodes, microscopic mites, springtails and arthropods, jointed creatures like ants, centipedes, beetles and sow bugs – and why not? Encourage them to do their work.
After all, your garden soil is a neighborhood full of bugs.

Some we can see and some we can’t. To get this great soil, add plenty of organic matter, such as compost, grass clippings, shredded leaves, decomposed aged cow or horse manures, peat or peat moss.

Adding all this organic matter will help to improve your soil’s structure and biological activity.

Organic materials stimulate the growth and reproductive capacity of the bacteria and other micro organisms that help create a vital and productive soil.

And by adding this decaying matter, this also deals with a soil’s mineral deficiencies and your soil’s pH.

In most soils, more than 80 percent of the aerobic bacteria is present in the top six inches.
More than 60 percent is in the top three to four inches.

Cultivating the soil when it is too wet or too dry is even more harmful and disastrous for your soil’s structure.

So now we are told to use plenty of mulch to reduce weed problems and conserve moisture, and this will also built the tilth (a soil’s structure by adding organic matter) in one’s soil.

And reduce the walking on the soil, as this will reduce compaction.

Experts want us to do the lasagna gardening technique of no-till, no-toil gardening. The method works by adding organic layers on top of the others, like making lasagna.

Using no power tools, heavy equipment or expensive additives, all it takes is just one person to install and maintain any kind of garden without removing sod, digging, tilling or weeding.

Just keep adding the layers and let the thousands of arthropods do their jobs of breaking down the leaves and other organic matter into a form on which bacteria and fungi can feed.

Know this: organic mulches feed the soil, and the soil feeds your plants.

A single teaspoon of fertile soil that has received regular additions of compost contains an unbelievable 100 million bacteria, plus an astonishing 400 to 800 feet of fungal threads and millions of other microbes.