Healthy Soil
Image Source:
Plants Tiny Sprouty (OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixaby)
What living things need soil?
Plants need soil
Many plants get the nutrients and water they need from soil.
Image source:
Seedlings (onehundredseventyfive, Pixaby)
Animals need soil
Animals like worms and insects live in soil. Tiny living things like bacteria, algae and fungi also live in soil. Some get nutrients from soil.
Image source: Let’s Talk Science using images by VectorMine via iStockphoto)
Algae
Invertebrates
Fungi
Bacteria
Plants and animals need healthy soil
Why do plants and animals need healthy soil?
Healthy soil gives plants and animals the water and nutrients they need to live and grow.
Image source:
Field of lettuce (Carles Gabarrella, iStockphoto)
Let’s look at some soils
to see if they are healthy or not.
Do you think this soil is healthy?
This soil is not healthy. The water is not able to drain away. This can harm plants and animals.
Image source:
Corn plant and farmer in wet mud (Taglass, iStockphoto)
Do you think this soil is healthy?
This soil is healthy. It has lots of worms. They break down organic matter and make space for water.
Image source:
Worms and soil (domnicky, iStockphoto)
Do you think this soil is healthy?
This soil is healthy. It is dark in colour. This means it has lots of organic matter and nutrients.
Image source:
Dark nutrient-rich soil (Nastco, iStockphoto)
Do you think this soil is healthy?
This soil is not healthy. It is pale in colour. This means it does not have much organic matter or nutrients.
Image source:
Soil in the desert (gkuna, iStockphoto)
Do you think this soil is healthy?
This soil is healthy. It is deep enough to grow carrots with long roots.
Image source:
Long carrot roots (Akchamczuk, iStockphoto)
Do you think this soil is healthy?
This soil is not healthy. It is very dry and cracked. It cannot hold enough water for living things.
Image source:
Corn plants in dry soil (Taglass, iStockphoto)
Do you think this soil is healthy?
This soil is healthy. It has good drainage. It is wet, but not too wet.
Image source:
Corn growing in oist soil (RawFile, iStockphoto)
Do you think this soil is healthy?
This soil is not healthy. It is not deep enough to grow carrots with long roots.
Image source:
Short carrot roots (Larisa Stefanuyk, iStockphoto)
Let’s review what we know about healthy soils
Healthy soils…
People can make soils unhealthy
They can add chemicals that kill unwanted plants (herbicides) and insects (pesticides). This can hurt helpful animals in soil.
Image source:
Person spraying chemicals on soil (Edwin Tan, iStockphoto)
People can make soils unhealthy
Chemicals also get into soil from garbage and other waste.
Image source:
Garbage on the ground (Sergii Zyskо, iStockphoto)
How can people help soils?
We can help soil by composting vegetable scraps. This adds nutrients to soil.
Image source:
Vegetable scraps in a composter (Ben Kerckx, Pixabay)
How can people help soils?
We can help soil by pulling out weeds by hand, rather than using herbicides.
We can also use natural pesticides like detergent.
Image source:
People pulling weeds (Ben Kerckx, Pixabay)
How can people help soils?
We can cover soil with mulch so that it does not blow or wash away. Mulch also keeps soil from drying out. It can even help keep weeds from growing!
Image source:
Strawberry plants with straw mulch (Ben Kerckx, Pixabay)
Let’s keep soil healthy!