The Importance of Humus In The Soil & Protecting Your Soil Life

Summary

In this episode of the 'Mi Gardener' channel, the focus is on maintaining soil health in gardens through the addition of organic material like compost and humus. The host emphasizes the importance of soil structure for beneficial bacteria and fungi, explaining how unprocessed wood chips can lead to nitrogen sequestration. The video also touches on the necessity of covering soil to prevent solarization and maintain the rhizosphere's health, which is crucial for soil life and plant nutrient absorption.

Takeaways

• 🌱 **Importance of Soil Health**: The video emphasizes the significance of maintaining soil health for a thriving garden.
• 📈 **Two Key Methods**: It introduces two primary methods for maintaining soil health: adding organic material and soil coverage.
• 🌿 **Organic Material**: Adding organic material like humus and compost is crucial for providing soil structure and a habitat for beneficial bacteria and fungi.
• 🔄 **Remineralization**: While adding nutrients is beneficial, it's not enough without the addition of organic material for proper soil structure.
• 🍃 **Humus Value**: Humus, being the broken-down exoskeleton of once-living organic matter, is highlighted as a vital component of garden soil.
• 🌾 **Compost Maturity**: The script explains the importance of using mature compost that is 'punky', black inside, and spongy for optimal soil health.
• 🌳 **Soil Structure**: The presence of broken-down wood and other organic materials in the soil indicates a good structure that supports soil life.
• 🌞 **Solarization**: Leaving soil bare can lead to 'solarization', which is harmful to the soil life due to solar radiation.
• 🌿 **Covering Soil**: Covering the soil with plants, mulch, or other materials is essential to protect the rhizosphere and maintain soil health.
• 🌐 **Community Engagement**: The video encourages viewers to share knowledge about soil health and engage with other gardeners and content creators on the topic.

Q & A

What is the main focus of this episode of the 'Mi Gardener' channel?

The main focus of this episode is maintaining soil health in the garden by discussing the importance of adding organic material and the concept of remineralization.

Why is adding organic material to the garden important?

Adding organic material to the garden is important because it provides the necessary structure to the soil, allowing for the thriving of beneficial bacteria and fungi, which are key components of healthy soil.

What is humus and why is it crucial for the garden?

Humus is the broken-down exoskeleton of once-living organic matter, such as leaves, grass clippings, or wood. It is crucial for the garden because it provides a porous structure that retains moisture and nutrients, creating a habitat for beneficial soil life.

What happens if you add unbroken-down wood chips to your garden?

Adding unbroken-down wood chips to the garden can lead to nitrogen sequestration, where the bacteria in the soil use nitrogen to break down the carbon in the wood, potentially robbing the soil of nitrogen needed for plant growth.

What is the difference between raw organic material and finished compost?

Raw organic material is not yet broken down and can cause nitrogen sequestration, while finished compost, containing humus, is already broken down, is spongy, and provides a beneficial structure to the soil.

Why should you cover your soil?

Covering the soil is important to prevent solarization, which can kill soil life due to solar radiation. Covering the soil helps maintain the rhizosphere, which contains most of the soil life.

What are some ways to cover the soil?

Soil can be covered with plants (annuals or perennials), ground cover, cover crops, or mulch to protect the rhizosphere and maintain soil health.

What is the rhizosphere and why is it significant?

The rhizosphere is the uppermost layer of soil (1 to 5 inches) surrounding plant roots, which contains 80 to 90 percent of soil life. This soil life is crucial for mining minerals to help plants grow.

Why does the host encourage viewers to watch the video multiple times or take notes?

The host encourages viewers to watch the video multiple times or take notes to ensure they retain the information and understand the importance of soil health for gardening success.

What is the host's stance on the importance of discussing soil health?

The host believes that discussing soil health is crucial for successful gardening and that ignoring it will lead to a decline in soil quality and continuous problems in the garden.

What does the host suggest viewers do if they know other content creators who make gardening videos?

The host suggests that viewers share this video with other content creators who make gardening videos to encourage them to discuss soil health and its importance.

Outlines

00:00

🌱 Importance of Organic Material in Garden Soil

The speaker begins by welcoming viewers to the gardening channel and introduces the topic of maintaining soil health, specifically focusing on the addition of organic material. They emphasize that while many people understand the need to amend soil, they often focus on nutrients rather than organic matter. The importance of humus and compost is highlighted, explaining that these materials provide structure to the soil, allowing for beneficial bacteria and fungi to thrive. The speaker demonstrates the quality of their compost pile, noting its dark color and spongy texture, which are signs of rich humus content. They explain that this structure is crucial for a healthy garden, as it provides a habitat for soil life that contributes to nutrient cycling and overall soil fertility.

05:01

🌤️ Covering Soil to Preserve Soil Health

In the second paragraph, the speaker discusses the importance of covering the soil to maintain its health. They mention solarization, a process where the sun's rays can penetrate the soil and kill beneficial soil life, similar to how skin gets sunburned. To prevent this, the speaker suggests using plants, mulch, or other types of ground cover to protect the rhizosphere, the top 1-5 inches of soil that contain the majority of soil life. They stress that maintaining this layer is crucial for the health of the garden, as it is where most of the soil's beneficial organisms reside, aiding in the mining of minerals for plant growth. The speaker concludes by encouraging viewers to share the video and start a conversation about soil health, as they believe it is a foundational aspect of gardening that is often overlooked.

Keywords

💡Soil Health

Soil health refers to the capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem. It encompasses the soil's ability to support plant and animal life, maintain water and air quality, and promote plant and microbial activity. In the video, soil health is the central theme, with the host discussing various methods to maintain and improve it, such as adding organic material and covering the soil.

💡Organic Material

Organic material in the context of gardening refers to any substance that was once part of a living organism, such as leaves, grass clippings, or wood. The host emphasizes the importance of adding organic material to the soil to improve its structure and provide a habitat for beneficial bacteria and fungi. This is crucial for maintaining soil health.

💡Humus

Humus is the dark, stable, and nutrient-rich end product of the decomposition of organic matter. It is highlighted in the script as a key component of healthy soil because it provides structure, retains moisture, and hosts beneficial microorganisms. The host describes humus as the 'broken down exoskeleton of once living organic matter' and contrasts it with raw wood chips.

💡Compost

Compost is decomposed organic matter used to fertilize and amend soil. The video script mentions a compost pile that has been breaking down for several months, indicating that composting is an ongoing process. Compost is rich in humus and is ready to be added to the garden to enhance soil structure and fertility.

💡Remineralization

Remineralization is the process of returning essential minerals to the soil that have been depleted over time. While the host mentions it as a part of soil amendment, it is contrasted with the addition of organic material. The focus is on adding not just nutrients but also the structure provided by organic matter.

💡Beneficial Bacteria and Fungi

Beneficial bacteria and fungi are microorganisms that play a crucial role in soil health by aiding in the decomposition of organic matter and nutrient cycling. The host explains that without the structure provided by organic material, these microorganisms do not have a suitable habitat, which is essential for a healthy soil ecosystem.

💡Porous Structure

Porous structure in soil refers to the presence of spaces or voids that allow for air, water, and root penetration. The host describes how adding organic material like humus creates a porous structure that is essential for the survival of beneficial bacteria and fungi, and for the overall health of the soil.

💡Nutrient Sequestration

Nutrient sequestration is a process where nutrients are bound or 'locked up' in a form that is unavailable to plants. The host uses this term to caution against adding raw organic material to the soil, as it can tie up nitrogen needed by bacteria to break down the carbon in the material.

💡Solarization

Solarization is a soil treatment process that uses the sun's heat to kill pathogens, nematodes, and weeds. The host discusses how leaving soil bare can lead to solarization, which negatively affects soil life by killing beneficial organisms through exposure to solar radiation.

💡Rhizosphere

The rhizosphere is the region of soil surrounding plant roots where there is a high concentration of root-exuded compounds and actively growing microorganisms. The host emphasizes the importance of maintaining the health of the rhizosphere, which is the top 1-5 inches of soil, to support a thriving soil ecosystem.

💡Mulch

Mulch is a protective layer of material applied to the surface of the soil. It helps to conserve moisture, suppress weeds, and regulate soil temperature. The host mentions mulch as a method to cover the soil, which is essential to prevent solarization and maintain a healthy rhizosphere.

Highlights

Introduction to the episode on maintaining soil health in the garden.

Emphasis on the importance of organic material in soil health.

Misunderstandings about soil readiness and the need for soil amendments.

The difference between adding nutrients and adding organic material to soil.

Explanation of humus and its role in providing soil structure.

The compost pile as a source of humus for the garden.

Importance of soil structure for beneficial bacteria and fungi.

Visual demonstration of the difference between raw wood chips and composted material.

The effect of uncomposted materials on soil nitrogen levels.

Analysis of the soil's organic material and moisture content.

The significance of soil structure for soil life.

Discussion on the importance of covering soil to prevent solarization.

Explanation of how solar radiation can harm soil life.

Recommendations for covering soil with plants or mulch.

Encouragement for viewers to share the video with other gardeners.

The final call to action to promote discussions on soil health.

Conclusion and sign-off from the host.

Transcripts

[Music]

well hello everyone and welcome to

another very exciting episode here on

the mi gardener channel this is going to

be in our two to three episode series on

maintaining soil health in the garden so

that first episode i'm really glad that

you all loved it was something that i

was i was hoping would be well received

and in fact it was really well received

and i think it definitely touched on a

lot of different things that i just

don't feel are really being talked about

enough and so in this episode we're

going to talk about two ways to maintain

your soil health and that way it'll be

really quick it'll be bite-sized you can

take this information and that way i can

also uh carry it on over to the to the

next episode so in this episode we're

going to talk about adding organic

material and the importance of adding

organic material to your garden because

i just think that a lot of people assume

a garden once it's set up is pretty much

ready to go however and i also do think

that there are a lot of people that

that know the importance of amending

their soil but they amend it with

nutrients rather than organic material

and so

it's you're doing

partly a right thing which will also

talk about remineralization in this

episode it's it's definitely not a bad

thing but if you're not adding the

organic material

like humus and compost you're not really

giving your soil the structure that it

needs so you can give your plants the

nutrients but without the structure it

does not give a home for beneficial

bacteria and fungi to live

so here's our compost pile and it's been

breaking down for several months now but

you can see here that the soil even in

the compost or the compost is very rich

it's very dark and you'll notice that

even though it is ready to go on the

garden what makes it very good compost

is the fact that it contains lots of

humus humus is the

broken down exoskeleton of once living

organic matter so you might have like

leaves or grass clippings or things like

a little chunks of wood

those are all broken down and they're

ready to add to the garden

but you can see

that they are still

plant-like you can see that they still

have some form of

i guess structure to them and people

would say that's not broken down enough

wrong folks wrong this is the organic

matter that we're talking about this is

organic matter but this is organic

matter in the form of humus this is very

important to have in your garden because

this is what provides the structure to

your garden this is what provides the

structure to your soil i should say that

adds the porous

i guess the porous structure that allows

for bacteria and fungi to thrive this is

this is very spongy i can crush it up

see what i'm saying i can crush this up

and it holds a lot of moisture it holds

a lot of

nutrients it also allows those holes

that a large surface area for the

bacteria and fungi to survive in which

again is the key component to having

healthy soil so let's go back over to

the beds i'll show you what i'm talking

about

all right so just on the top of the soil

here i can actually analyze uh some

pretty good

bits of organic material it's pretty dry

right now but this is not a reflection

of the soil quality it's just the

surface of the soil if i dig down it's

actually very very nice and moist down

there and very very good quality soil

but you can see here i can actually pick

up

lots of different bits and pieces

of

of

humus see

look at all of that now people would say

luke you've got chunks of wood in your

bed it's wrong these are chunks of wood

that are broken down there's a huge

difference if you just throw wood chips

in your garden

like

if you just throw these in your garden

what's going to happen

is it's going to cause carbon

sequestration and that's because the

bacteria in your soil

or it's nitrogen sequestration i

apologize nitrogen sequestration it will

rob nitrogen from your soil

because the bacteria use nitrogen to

break down the carbon in this material

this is all carbon here and so they need

that nitrogen to break down the the

organic material so when you add a

composted material like this stuff here

it has already been broken down and it's

very it's very they call it punky see

it's it's uh it's black inside and what

happens is it's very

you could it's very pliable and bendable

and spongy and that's because it is

finished compost containing humus that

is what that's what you really need to

have in your soil because if you don't

and you just have this stuff here

this stuff i mean even though it's

pretty decent it does not have a lot of

soil structure this very crumbly it's

very dry there's not a whole lot of

there's not a whole lot of room for

bacteria and fungi to call home and sure

you have little bits and twigs and stuff

and that's because i have amended my

soil but if you look at this portion

here of the soil if your soil is just

like this

chances are your soil life is probably

not as good as it could be all right so

the final thing that i want to talk

about would be pretty quick because i've

talked about this kind of ad nauseam on

this channel and that's covering your

soil the importance to covering your

soil is that like i said in the in

before we uh before we started this

series in the kind of prelude uh is that

covering your soil prevents solarization

whether that's done through annuals like

this kale here or perennials or some

type of ground cover

it could be a cover crop

it could be

anything for that matter any type of

green material or mulch or something

like that

you just want to make sure the soil is

covered because if you're not covering

the soil what can happen is your soil is

left bare and that actually affects the

rhizosphere like we talked about in the

fact that the sun can actually

can penetrate down through the soil and

kill the kill the soil life much like

you get a sunburn if you're out in the

sun too long if your soil is out in the

sun bear too long it will it will die

just the same because it's it's actually

radiation coming down from the sun that

solar radiation is what kills your soil

so if you want to maintain your healthy

soil i find that it's the best the best

way to do it is through covering your

soil with plants but you can also do it

with mulch and that will maintain that

rhizosphere which is that one to five

inches of soil which is the most crucial

because that contains about 80 to 90

percent of your soil life the soil

or the the life that helps to

go mine those minerals to help your

plants

alright so there you go i hope you all

enjoyed i hope you all found this

informative as well as not too long they

don't need to be that long because

there's a lot of information and they

don't want to overwhelm people so if you

have to

please do rewind this video watch it

over again a couple times take notes i

know people do that and they and they

let me know that they do that and that's

great it's definitely okay to take notes

there's nothing wrong with that at all

it really does help to uh some people

take you are visual learners sometimes

people are

are

they learn through

writing things down that's totally okay

i absolutely get that so however you

retain the information is great i just

hope you learned something and that's

all that matters um the final thing that

i would love for you to do is if you

have not yet give this video a thumbs up

please do if you don't have a youtube

account you're just watching this video

share with a friend that really helps us

out as well we want to help as many

gardeners out as possible and it's just

topics like this that are not talked

enough about and really are just avoided

for whatever reason and i hope that's

not the case i really hope we can kind

of get this ball rolling talking about

soil health and its importance so if you

know a youtuber or you know a content

creator that does gardening videos send

them a link to this video and say hey i

want i want you to talk about it as well

because i really do think that the more

we ignore the soil

the the more we're going to be confused

about how we get back to a successful

garden really how we can uh improve the

soil health of our garden because it's

just one thing when you ignore it it's

never going to get better it's only

going to get worse and you can

constantly be putting band-aids on the

problem

but it's never really going to fix it's

never really going to be the solution if

you know what i mean so i do hope that

we can all get together behind this

because soil is the the foundation for

life it is what feeds us it is what

feeds this planet and if we can if we

can learn about how to nourish the soil

health we can learn to nourish our

health as well so as always i hope you

all enjoyed hopefully you learned

something new and we'll catch you all

later see ya bye

[Music]