SOIL HEALTH… IT ALL STARTS HERE

Soil isn’t just dirt. There are lots of things going on in healthy soil to keep it healthy, and lots of things you can do to be sure the soil in your food plots becomes healthy and remains healthy.

Here’s what the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) says: Soil is a vital part of the natural environment. It influences the distribution of plant species and provides a habitat for a wide range of organisms. It controls the flow of water and chemical substances between the atmosphere and the earth, and it acts as both a source and store for gases in the atmosphere. Soil, together with the plant and animal life it supports, forms an amazing, intricate natural system.

With that said, you should know that soil-speak is a language within biology, heavy on organic chemistry. Therefore, some explanations will be helpful. But be forewarned: I’m not a chemist. I’m just really good at finding the guys and gals who know this stuff inside and out — and really good at following instructions.

I take comfort, and you should too, in the fact that bags of fertilizer are pretty well restricted to N-P-K — nitrogen, phosphorus, potash/potassium — the basic building blocks of good soil. When you get your soil test reports back from whatever