Think of your soil as a living organism

By Jean-Marie Laporterie, a farming engineer.

February is the time to sow peas and beans and to plant onion bulbs.
But first and foremost, let´s talk about the soil. It is the vital element! It counts on you and is waiting for you because spring is coming!
Your soil is alive and, like all living things, it is fragile. The winter weakens it and puts it to sleep and that is why, before you plant or sown, you need to bring it back to life.
You will encourage good growth in your vegetables by working the soil and making it richer.

AIR YOUR SOIL

The roots of your vegetables breathe! The living organisms that make your soil rich also need oxygen and you must understand that even very fertile soil will become almost sterile if it is packed together.
To air the soil, do not use a motor hoe. You may think it is a good thing, but you will destroy the flora and fauna that properly maintained soil is teeming with.
Bacteria, mushrooms, algae, worms, wingless insects etc. transform the humus. This little world allows plants to feed. Without these organisms, there is no life and no food. Their role is crucial because they also secrete enzymes that allow plants to fight off disease.

In concrete terms: digging the first 15 to 20 cm at the surface is enough.
This allows the soil to warm and accelerates the growth of roots and therefore the precocity of your plants.

ALLOW YOUR SOIL TO BECOME ENRICHED

By sowing peas and beans in association with other plants and vegetables, you will enrich your soil.
They are vegetables – the only plants capable of capturing the azote in the air** and of fixing it in the soil where it will be available to all the other plants. Without azote, plants will not grow and soil that is poor in azote will only produce sickly plants.
The roots of our vegetables are covered with small growths known as nodules that are natural fertiliser factories. So
take advantage of them.
For this to work, and for our fertiliser manufacturers to work hard, the root must first develop easily and unite with a particular bacteria***. The bacteria and the plant work in symbiosis to attach the azote and enrich the soil with precious food. It’s marvellous!
So what do we do?
Nothing too difficult – simply air the earth. You will create rapid root growth and nodules that manufacture the azote fertiliser. You will also fan the flames of the love affair between the bacteria and the roots of the pulses. Simply dig with a fork and you’re done!

My advice
Consider your earth to be a living and fragile organism. Watch it the way you watch your fruit and vegetables grow. Look after and protect their soil to make it rich and productive. Do not asphyxiate it! Don’t bury what makes it rich alive!


Jean-Marie Laporterie, Doctor in soil science, pedologist and farming engineer has consecrated his life to studying soil. Now he has retired, he continues to fight for the improvement of food-production plantations, in particular in Ethiopia where, at his initiative, thousands of olive trees have been planted.


* The main pulse vegetables: peas, runner beans and other beans…
** The air we breathe contains 78% of azote!
*** Rhizobium