A Healthy Living Soil

[Cider Boys]

I was reading the Organic section from my newsletter from Mole Valley Farmers. It reported on a meeting near Taunton where they debated the qualities of a healthy soil.

The key factors they agreed on were as follows.

- Fells soft and crumbles easily

- Drains well and warms up quickly in the spring

- Does not crust after planting

- Soaks up heavy rains with little runoff

- Stores moisture for drought periods

- Has few clods and no hardpan

- Resists erosion and nutrient loss

- Supports high populations of soil organisms

- Has a rich, earthy smell

- Does not require increasing inputs for high yields

- Produces healthy, high quality crops

I wonder what other qualities forum members would add to the above list.

Barney

[oldherbaceous]

Stops the germination of weed seeds.

Sorry about that Barney, but you know what i'm like.

[Compo]

Has self digging and self weeding qualities
Germinates every seed you plant in it
Can produce screws, keys, hand tools and cash that you lose in it.
Bounces back when you step on it

Seriously though, that is unachivable with some soil types, such as clay, or very sandy soils.

Apart from that it is a perfect list.