March 19, 2024 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

How to Heal the Soil and Why

By Andy Lopez

We all know how important the vital role the soil plays in your plants’ health, trees, and eventually the Earth’s health. We take for granted the soil that lies beneath our feet. For a while now, humankind has been dumping chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc., into the soil, air, water, ocean. These all kill off the microbial life that lives within the soil. The microbial army whose home is the soil.

A long time ago, when I first started gardening in my backyard, I realized right away how alive the soil was. Earthworms everywhere, and many things were moving around! Looking under a microscope, I discovered a fascinating hidden world. I call them Earth Warriors. They are the real Invisible Gardeners. It didn’t take me long to realize what my calling was! To help these tiny beings in their work of healing the soil!

Why is healing the soil so important? All life depends on the Earth having living soil. The soil provides everyone else the minerals they need to be alive, stay alive, and be healthy.

The soil microbes are grouped according to their functions. The ones I am talking about are the ones that take the minerals in the soil and convert it into a soluble nutritional form that the plants can use. This is one grouped of mycelium. These guys then pass this food along to another grouped of mycelium that lives on the plants’ root hairs, trees, etc. These have evolved to attach themselves to the roots and then transfer directly into the trees.

The plant then transfers the food to all its parts. Like when we eat, the body has a system of making sure all aspects of our body receive the proper nutrition. The central part of this food is minerals. But we cannot digest minerals straight, so the microbes and plants do that.

I often tell folks that all diseases start in the soil. They are already there, waiting for the right time to emerge. When is it the right time? The higher the stress, the greater the pest. The stress can come about through many things indirectly, like overwatering. Too much water oods the soil and drowns the microbes. So the water is an indirect cause, but the real reason is that the soil no longer has these bene cial microbes to provide food to the plants.

All diseases and pests attacks are directly related to a trace mineral deficiency. The health of the soil directly affects the plants’ health and their ability to absorb the minerals.

We can help heal the soil by avoiding chemicals, especially chemical fertilizers. Use only organic fertilizers best if they carry their mycorrhiza.

Learn to apply rock dust as a source of minerals. Find a source of living compost rich in microbes.

For more information, please visit InvisibleGardener.com. Any questions visit my website and use the contact form.

Mention this paper and I will answer back in next column

Andy Lopez Heal the Earth, and you Heal Yourself

Related Posts

SM.a.r.t Column: Can California ARBs Balance Affordable Housing with Community Character in the Face of New Housing Laws?

March 17, 2024

March 17, 2024

By suggestion, I attended the March 4th ARB (Architectural Review Board) meeting that addressed the Gelson Lincoln Boulevard Project.  After...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Need for Safety

March 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Earlier this week, in the dark pre-dawn hours, a pair of thugs covered in masks and hoodies burst into the...

Film Review: The Oscar Landscape 2024

March 7, 2024

March 7, 2024

FILM REVIEWTHE OSCAR LANDSCAPE 2024A Look at the Choices – Academy Awards – March 10, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. on...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Five Saving Historic Santa Monica

March 3, 2024

March 3, 2024

Our beloved City is surrounded by many threats, from sea level rise to homelessness, to housing affordability, to cancerous overdevelopment,...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Gelson’s Looms Large

February 22, 2024

February 22, 2024

Our guest column this week is by SMCLC (the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City). SMCLC is a well-established...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Top Toady Town

February 18, 2024

February 18, 2024

Throughout history, from the ancient Romans and Assyrians to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, siege warfare has served as an...

S.M.a.r.t Column: The Sunset of Home Ownership

February 11, 2024

February 11, 2024

We are watching the sunset of our historical and cultural American dream of home ownership as we now are crossing...

SMa.r.t. Column: B(U)Y RIGHT

February 4, 2024

February 4, 2024

“By Right” state housing laws that give developers, in certain projects, the ability to ignore codes ‘by right.’ Well, that...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Serf City

January 28, 2024

January 28, 2024

Homelessness is a problem in California, and nowhere is this more evident than in our fair city, where the unhoused...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Bond Fatigue

January 22, 2024

January 22, 2024

Last week’s SMart article,  described two critical problems faced by our Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD): the declining...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Peace on Earth

December 27, 2023

December 27, 2023

We are all, by now, saturated with jingles, holiday cards, “ho ho ho’s,” countless commercial advertisements, and exhortations to feel...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Clock with Mayor Brock

December 17, 2023

December 17, 2023

I became Santa Monica’s Mayor on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, following a simple “switch of the chairs” transition with outgoing...

S.M.a.r.t Column: SANTA MONICA CITY COUNCIL 2024

December 10, 2023

December 10, 2023

Position:Seeking Santa Monica City Council Candidate(s) Introduction:Exciting opportunity for the right candidate(s) to work with like-minded Council members committed to...

S.M.a.r.t Column: ARB (NOT Ready to Build!)

December 3, 2023

December 3, 2023

Santa Monica City’s Architectural Review Board (ARB), established in 1974, acts “…to preserve existing areas of natural beauty, cultural importance...

SMa.r.t. Column: We are thankful for….

November 27, 2023

November 27, 2023

SMa.r.t. would like to wish you all a great Thanksgiving with friends and family and also to thank its readers...