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In their book of account , The Hidden one-half of Nature , authors David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé show just how intertwined the health of our gardens is with the microbial world . Here are some of their tips for taking care of the beneficial microbes in your garden soil .
1. Cover Up Bare Soil
Helpful germ in the soil , like the fiber - fermenters in your catgut , love to junket on stagnant works matter . To them , it ’s food , and if you offer it , they will come . Then they transform the organic matter into flora miraculous food . No need for back - breaking labor , just place a cosy layer of mulch to a deepness of 2 to 3 inches decently on top of garden beds .
2. Get Creative With Making Mulch
Beneficial soil microbe thrive on dead plant material from woodwind instrument chips to java grounds . Just as in the kitchen , experiment with ingredients . Many things you may consider garbage , soil germ count give scandal . ( Hint : Arborists and your coffee shop will often give their rich waste goody by . )
3. Keep Your Leaves In The Fall
think it organic matter delivered for free . Unless you have an inordinate amount , simply compile parting and stash them to utilize later on in the spring or summer , or skim them onto the top of your bed correctly away .
4. Cease And Desist With Using Leaf Blowers
cetacean are like a re - enactment of Dustbowl days from the thirties , eroding topsoil and harming beneficial territory liveliness and roots near the ground ’s surface . rake , sweeping and easing up on tidying up your garden are option . Plus , these drill provide an added benefit — peace and quiet .
5. Lay Off The Synthetic Chemical Fertilizers
Unless you have specialty ornamentals that utterly command them , synthetic fertilizers are no good for your garden . These products are prone to disrupting the interactions between plants and the good grunge microbes that form the spine of a plant ’s defensive structure system .
Excerpted fromThe Hidden Half of Nature : The Microbial Roots of Life and Health(W.W. Norton & Company , 2015 ) by David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé . Reprinted with permit of the newspaper publisher . All right set aside .
