Compost and soil health

Asad Manzoor*

Everyone knows strong building essentials a strong and good foundation, similar ways healthy plants require a strong and healthy soil that can provide their roots with all essential nutrients, water, and air. Few progressive gardeners are blessed with perfect soil, and even if they were, protection soil healthy and able to support plants is continuing procedure of farming.  For highest quality of produce it is essential to building and maintaining healthy soil that is a single most important thing you can do to guarantee the accomplishment of your garden and landscape plants.

Healthy and strong soil refers a process of providing soil life that includes microbes, worms, fungi with the resources and atmosphere they need to do their jobs. If we continue taking from our garden or farm soil without giving anything back it will breaks the natural ecological cycle. Year by year cultivation and harvesting of crops or vegetables,  cutting and bagging lawn clippings, and raking fallen leaves from trees/herbs or shrubs removes organic material that’s generally intended for the soil on which it falls. If the organic material of our garden of farm isn’t replenished, soil health gradually declines as time passed. If we substituting synthetic chemical fertilizers instead of organic matter it will feed our plants but soil texture and health will gradually decline.

Addition of good organic matter is the most common, important and essential for the soil health of our garden. One of the best sources of organic matter is compost while other sources include animal waste also called animal manure and vegetables or crops waste or residue. Soil pH is also one of the most important factor that play important role in nutrients availability and absorption rate, addition of compost in soil also help to maintain soil pH level at best.

Compaction due to heavy foot or vehicle traffic is of the main reason of destroying soil structure and misused of synthetic inorganic fertilizer and pesticide also damage the soil health. Composting from waster animal and plant materials help us to clean our environment and also help us to improve our garden or farm soil health.

• Email: asadku3@gmail.com