Earth is a ball of rock..

This was the starting statement from our speaker Nancy Lowe.

Nancy’s talk ‘The Secret Life of the Soil’ was fascinating and very informative. She began by explaining the Gaia Theory proposed by James Lovelock who suggests that all organisms on earth are closely integrated to form a single, self-regulating system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet.
Nancy described these earth’s systems using analogies with the human body; Lungs of the Earth, the oceans produce most of the oxygen on earth, Earth’s Kidneys, how wetlands cleans the system and a Vascular system, how migrating animals and birds carry nutrients around the system.
Nancy focused on the composition of soil and stated that in one teaspoon there are over one billion organisms with around twenty to thirty thousand different species. Each organism has a function, shredding material, breaking down leaves and helping to improve soil structure. Many organisms produce nutrients e.g protozoa eat bacteria and excrete nutrients. Fungi in the soil can break down tough pollutants.
With this knowledge, gardeners can play an important role in maintaining healthy soil for increased drought tolerance and for plants that are self-sufficient. Nancy gave us useful advice about no dig gardening, gentle weeding and using mulch wisely to maintain healthy soil.
Nancy supported her ideas with scientific research and the whole talk was enhanced by some amazing graphics which demonstrated her concepts. The talk generated much discussion afterwards and many of us agreed that we have been ‘doing it wrong’! I think we have all taken some ideas that we intend to implement in our own gardens this year and hope to see the benefits.
This was the second visit by Nancy to the gardening club and we are already looking at her list of talks to invite her back next year.

Nancy's website is www.thenaturalgardener.org.uk
see also https://advancingecoag.com/plant-health-pyramid/