Soil | Pollinator Garden

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See What's in Your Compost or Soil

Explore the Biology in Your Soil

Have you ever wondered who is doing the work in your compost or your soil? Get some cool pictures of the microorganisms and learn about their work.

I want to Learn about my Soil

NUTRIENT CYCLING IS THE KEY TO FERTILE SOIL

What you do:

Book a biological soil examination of your garden or compost.
Once you book a soil examination, you will receive instructions on collecting the sample.
Send a small soil sample by mail, drop it off at our Bluffs location, or get it picked up.
You can add details of what is growing in the area of the soil sample or how you made the compost.
You can mention what you like to grow in this soil or compost.

I examine the sample:

For beneficial soil organisms, like nematodes and other organisms, that provide nutrient cycling.
For organisms that indicate compaction or anaerobic soil conditions, like ciliates and rotifers.

You receive the following:

Digital pictures of the different functional groups of the organisms in your soil with an eye-opening description of how they benefit your soil and plants. Or, if they are damaging, what they teach you about your soil and maintenance practices.
Some suggestions on how to improve your soil or compost.

The soil must be alive to be the foundation of a healthy and low-maintenance garden. Living organisms like Bacteria, Fungi, Protozoa, Amoebae, and Nematodes are crucial for nutrient cycling. Fungal hyphae in symbiosis with plant roots can make your garden more self-sufficient. As an extension of plant roots, the symbiotic fungal networks make plants more drought-resistant and fungi, as chemical wizards, will supply the plants with the required nutrients.

In the big picture, fungi store carbon longer and in higher concentrations in their hyphae than plants in their tissue, providing a key solution in storing huge amounts of carbon in the soil. Even in your garden, you can create conditions to promote the underground network of fungi through less - but more thoughtful - maintenance practices, and you will help to counteract climate change. As a side effect, the soil chemistry will change, bringing your garden into a more advanced successional state which will not allow weeds to dominate.

How It Works:

Book A Biological Soil Exploration

Once you have booked the biological soil examination, you will receive exact instructions on collecting the sample, and we can discuss if shipping, drop off to our Bluffs location or pick up is the best solution.
Since soil samples are full of living organisms, they have to be examined within the shortest possible time.