Nature establishes a gardener’s duty: to care for the soil> This pleasurable stewardship welcomed

Good soil may provide the starting point of good gardening, but good soil means a great deal more to me than successfully grown fruits, flowers and vegetables. There’s nothing I love more than feeling soil between my fingers in the spring.

I love the smooth, velvety feeling of clay pressed between my fingers and into my palms. I love it when wet mud clings to the bottoms of my boots in the spring. I rarely kick it off but instead hobble, lopsided and clumsy, back to the house, an inch of soil clinging to the sole of one boot, 2 inches on the other.

Above all, I will never tire of making mud pies or picking up a handful of dripping mud, squeezing it hard until it escapes my hand, oozing through my fingers.

I love soil. I love being covered with it.

Soil certainly means different things to different people. After she walked through the greenhouses in which I had classes, a college roommate once asked me, “How can you stand it in there? It smells like dirt. It would make me sick having a class in there!”

I remember being appalled. How could a person be so violated by the smell of the earth? Well, OK, the smell of potting soil. Still, the smell of a greenhouse is heavenly to me. It’s fresh and clean, even if it is “dirt.”

“Sick,” she said. Can you believe it? If anything, it’s therapeutic.

My roommate is not alone in her bias. A miner views soil as a waste layer one must get past to reveal the rocks and minerals of value. A construction worker sees soil as the foundation upon which roads and buildings are built. To the landfill worker, soil is a material to break down, filter and cover wastes.

To the gardener and the farmer, soil is fruitful, cherished. We are the ones who view soil as a living thing, something that needs to be pampered and kept well for spiritual and economic livelihood.

Sometimes, I think gardeners view taking care of the soil as a trust nature has bestowed upon us. It’s a duty — a most pleasurable one, one that fills us with pride. Taking care of the soil means knowing what it needs to nourish the plants we grow. It involves knowing something about its physical and chemical nature, as well as respecting the plethora of life it harbors.

Soil is host to essential ecosystems, without which we likely would not be able to survive. When we hold soil in our hands, we can see clearly the soil particles, or at least the aggregates of those particles. Tiny micro-organisms that live in the soil are so small they escape our view.

Many micro-organisms are necessary for biological processes that are essential to decomposition. Decomposition provides us with natural fertilizers and can be considered part of soil formation.

Soil micro-organisms break down plant residue and other organic matter and put it into forms that can be used by the plants we grow. This interaction of biological and chemical processes is responsible for natural soil fertility.

Occasionally, when holding a clod of soil, we see an insect scoot or a worm wiggle across our palm. As these creatures forage through the soil for assorted detritus and organic matter, they act as miniature rototillers, aerating the soil and improving its structure. When these organisms die, smaller micro-organisms break them down until they too become natural fertilizers.

There are lots of things gardeners can do to enhance the natural ecosystem present in the soil. One important consideration is the method and material with which we amend the soil. Generally, organic amendments enhance biological activity in the soil.

Synthetic fertilizers are designed to promote plant growth, but since they lack organic material, they do nothing to enhance the physical or biological state of the soil. Synthetic fertilizers contain nitrogen compounds which are unable to attach themselves to soil particles and so wash through the soil, flowing into the ground water.

On the other hand, organic fertilizers, such as animal manures, green manures and composts, provide an environment in which soil micro-organisms flourish.

Good gardeners take care of their soils and their plants at the same time. Gardening practices like using organic fertilizers, mulching with organic materials and adding organic matter to the soil improve plant growth and the soil ecosystem at the same time. When we see healthy plants and produce in our gardens, we know we have a healthy and well-balanced soil.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, c/o MaineWeekend, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.