• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research
  • Texas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences
Montgomery County Master Gardeners
Montgomery County Master GardenersTexas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Demonstration Gardens
      • Adaptive Garden
      • Aquaponics
      • Bog Garden
      • Composting
      • Discovery Garden
      • Floral Gardens
      • Greenhouse
      • Herb Garden
        • Entry to Herb Garden
        • Herb Recipes
      • Orchard
      • Vegetable Garden
    • Educational Gardening Classes
      • Gardening Classes
        • 2022 November 12, The Living Layer of Earth
        • 2022 October 8 Gardening Class
        • 2022 August 25 Gardening Class – Growing Microgreens
        • 2022 August 13 Gardening Class – Turfgrass
        • 2022 July 21 Gardening Class – Orchids
        • 2022 July 9, Gardening Class
        • 2022 June 23, Gardening Class- Texas Superstars
    • Arbor Day
      • 2023 Feb 25, Arbor Day, Conroe TX
      • 2023 March 4 – Arbor Day Willis, TX
    • MCMGA Privacy Statement
    • Speakers Bureau
  • Contact Us
    • Garden Helpdesk
    • How to Become a Master Gardener
    • Soil Testing
  • Members Only
    • VMS
    • Forms for MCMGA Members
    • Membership Directory
  • Publications
    • Articles
  • Blog Posts
    • Texas Kidneywood
    • Red Velvet Ant
    • Wildscapes
    • Walkingstick Insect
    • Texas Wild Orchids
    • Tea Roses
    • Japanese Maple ‘Baton Rouge’
    • Skinks of Texas
    • It’s time to think spring bulbs!
    • Spring Bulbs Planted in Fall – Part one
    • Canna Leafroller / Brazilian Skipper
    • Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha)
    • American Beautyberry Jelly Recipe
    • Dragonflies and Damselflies
    • Rattlesnake Master
    • Do Copperheads eat Cicadas?
    • Crinum
    • Texas Bluebell
    • The Red-cockaded Woodpecker
    • Indian Pink
    • 2022 September Gardening Tips
    • 2022 August Gardening Tips
    • 2022 July Gardening Tips
    • What to do in the garden in July
    • 2022 June Gardening Tips
    • 2022 March Gardening Chores
    • 2022 February Garden Chores
    • 2022 January Gardening Chores
    • 2021 December Gardening Tips
    • 2021 November Garden Chores
    • 2021 October Gardening Tips
    • 2021 September in the Garden
    • 2021 August in the Garden
    • 2021 June Gardening Tips
    • 2022 F&N Sale On-line Resources
    • 2021 Spring Sale starts on Tuesday April 27
    • On-Line Gardening Class – Free
    • A happy gardener’s view to a symbiotic relationship with deer
    • New Texas Superstars
    • Profile of a master gardener – Lynell Soltys
    • Profile of a master gardener – Michael Christensen
    • Profile of a master gardener – Teena Reese
    • Profile of a master gardener – Lloyd Schill
    • Profile of a master gardener – Cliff Blackerby
    • 2021 Herb, Vegetable and More Sale – Starts Tuesday, March 16 *** On-Line ***
    • 2021 Herb and Vegetable on-line sale has been rescheduled
    • 2021 Fruit and Nut Sale
    • 2020 Virtual Fall Plant Sale
    • 2020 Fall Plant Sale Pre-View and Plant List
    • MCMGA 2020 Fall Plant Sale – On-Line
    • 2020 Fall Plant Sale – On-Line Shop is open
    • Heat-loving plants for summer months
    • Why you should aerate your lawn
    • Planting for Pollinators and Other Wildlife
    • Monarchs and Milkweed
    • What the heck is pH and why is it important?
    • Tale of Woe by Bob Dailey
    • 2020 Upcoming Saturday Classes from MCMGA (Plant Sale is CANCELED)
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 11: Still LIfe Photography
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 10: Life Cycle
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 9: Abstract Photography
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 8: The Art of Exclusion
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 7: Find Something
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 6: Shallow Depth of Field
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 5: Black and White
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 4: Macros
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 3: Perspective
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 2: Composition
    • Photographing Flowers Series Part 1: Light
    • Not Just Another Rose of Sharon
    • Must Have Abutilons
    • Fall 2019 Open Gardens Day
  • Events Calendar

2-23 Soil – A Living Layer of Earth

Article by Bob Dailey, Master Gardener

Soil: A Living Layer of Earth

The soil in your garden and landscape should be a living layer of earth. That’s not a platitude – it’s a fact. It should be packed with microbes. A teaspoon of good soil should contain literally billions of beneficial bacteria, thousands of protozoans, and miles of mycorrhizal fungi. Billions of bacteria and miles of fungi? In a teaspoon? It may sound like fiction, but it’s true…if you have good soil!

These organisms and more complex lifeforms, such as earthworms, create a soil food web, devouring small bits of organic matter in the soil, and converting it into nutrients. Then plant roots can take in those nutrients to produce leaves, stems, flowers, fruit, and seed. Good healthy plants can fend off disease and destructive insects. However, the absence of these microorganisms and larger organisms such as earthworms results in compacted, lifeless soil. Lifeless soil, of course, cannot sustain life.

Solving the compacted soil problem

A recent non-scientific study in one Gulf Coast community not only indicated that “take-all patch” was typical in the sampling but that all the lawns tested had compacted soil. In fact, a sampling trowel broke during the testing because the ground was so hard.

The absolute best way to give your soil life again is to simply add organic material. You don’t need complicated chemicals and fertilizers. You don’t need “inoculants.” You don’t need humates. All you need is simple organic compost. In fact, good organic compost contains all the required microorganisms to inoculate soil and also contains nutrient-rich material. Compost will not only decompose slowly but will also feed all the tiny animals that live there.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M University System Member

Login/Logout Below

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Texas AgriLife Extension Office/MCMGA
9020 Airport Road
Conroe, Tx. 77303
(936)539-7824

  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information