Soil 101

As promised, I'm going to spend a little time talking about soil composition, and I'll do my best to keep it brief. This will probably be one of the drier posts, so feel free to skip it.

Plants need 16 chemical elements to thrive, three of which are absolutely essential for optimal growth: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. Nitrogen comprises 50 percent of the plant's living cells, and as such, plants require larger amounts of nitrogen than the other chemicals present in its physiological composition. Nitrogen is best absorbed by the plant's roots in nitrate-form. In a previous post I mentioned I'll be getting a fertilizer that is calcium nitrate-based (the calcium part is to aid the plant's absorption of the nitrogen), so if you were wondering why, there's the answer. While only small amounts of phosphorous are needed, this chemical plays an integral role in seed germination, seedling growth, and root growth. Potassium helps maintain the plant's homeostasis, regulating water content and facilitating the combination of carbohydrates and proteins; it is also a constituent chemical in photosynthesis.

A meticulously-measured chemical composition of the soil means nothing if the acidity of the soil is not matched to the plant's acid preference. The Big Book of Herbs provides a nice little table that lists out common herbs and their min, mean, and max levels of soil acidity tolerated. I think I might also add a Ph tester to my list of materials needed so I can be super anal about tracking each plant's soil acid level. I foresee a graphing opportunity! ;)

I should note that while I have been using the word "soil" to describe the growing medium, I will most likely not be using soil in the true sense; I will be using what is called a "soilless medium." To some this may denote artificiality, but this is not the case at all: most soilless mediums are comprised of sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite, and other trace minerals, like this germinating soil mixture. Using a soilless medium has many advantages over using "real" soil: it's lighter and easier to store; it's pest- and disease-free; no pasteurization is required; and research suggests that plants grown in soilless mediums are healthier and with increased foliage.

Okay, this post is starting to get longer than I intended. Time to cut myself off.