Unless you are gardening with hydroponic or aeroponic methods, you will need to take care of your soil. Your soil has to be healthy in order for plants to grow properly. If you want healthy plants, you will need to work with your soil.
In different places on the earth, the composure of soil can vary. Some places have soil that is very sandy. Some soil is filled with clay. Soils need to have the proper ratio of ingredients. A recommended recipe for soil mixture is 1 part peat moss, 1 part vermiculite, and 1 part compost. Mel Bartholomew recommends this in his 'Square Foot Gardening' book. I believe he used to recommend adding sand, but sand is so common and perhaps he has changed his mind.
Here is an article on the working of microbes in the garden soil. It is from a book called, 'Teaming with Microbes', which you can order through amazon.com
Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition
The 2011 Garden Writers of America Gold Award for Best Writing/Book proves soil is anything but an inert substance. Healthy soil is teeming with life -- not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic to humans as well as other forms of life. But there is an alternative to this vicious circle: to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web -- the complex world of soil-dwelling organisms whose interactions create a nurturing environment for plants. By eschewing jargon and overly technical language, the authors make the benefits of cultivating the soil food web available to a wide audience, from devotees of organic gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow healthy, vigorous plants without resorting to chemicals.
You can view the book details here:http://amzn.to/143XQAc
This article brings out a very important fact; that chemical fertilizers injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants. We so often want a 'quick fix' that we settle for commercial, name brand fertilizers, that produce big green plants quickly, but in the long run, the fertilizers ruin the soil. You want to use natural, organic fertilizers in order to help the ecosystem going on in the soil. You want the right kinds of bugs in your garden. It might be a little more work to start off with, but it will pay off in the end if it is done properly.
Happy Gardening!
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