Today is World Soil Day

It’s that time of year again when everyone should join in soilidarity (I’m ashamed that I can’t take the credit for this pun – I’ve seen it on twitter a hundred times or more already today) to celebrate soils and raise awareness of their plight. Yes, it’s ‘world soil day’! The changing nature of our soils isContinueContinue reading “Today is World Soil Day”

Soil Structure

Yesterday, we looked at the texture of a soil – the sand, silt and clay particles in a soil. Now we turn towards STRUCTURE. Soil structure can be regarded as the architecture of soil (the way it is built). By adding organic matter and water to the sand, silt and clay (and allowing for a goodContinueContinue reading “Soil Structure”

Soil Texture: Sand, Silt and Clay

Today, as part of the series of posts on soils, we are going to look at ‘soil texture’. Soil forms the basis for all life but it’s important to know about its mineral constitution as well as its biological profile. Texture refers to the ‘feel’ of the soil. This is affected by the constituent materialsContinueContinue reading “Soil Texture: Sand, Silt and Clay”

The Five Factors of Soil Formation

If you have ever looked closely at soils in different areas you will know that they all look, feel and smell different. They also play host to different plants and some contain more visible organisms than others. Why is this? How have they come to be so different? What factors should be considered? These wereContinueContinue reading “The Five Factors of Soil Formation”

A focus on soil

A focus on soilhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03s645l BBC Farming Today this week focused last week on arguably our most precious resource: soil. Soil isn’t a single substance but a vastly complex combination of organisms which all need to be cared for properly. If a soil is too wet, too dry or too compact it will not function as wellContinueContinue reading “A focus on soil”