It’s hard to believe, but gardening can cause harm to the environment around it. When you dig and till the soil, you release carbon dioxide that is otherwise trapped in the ground, potentially contributing to global warming...
You’re also destroying communities of good fungi and bacteria that live in the soil, and leaching potentially harmful fertilizers and manures into drinking water systems. All this doom and gloom isn’t a call to stop gardening – just a caution for gardeners to work more in harmony with nature.
Global Warming
Global warming isn’t a secret any more – we hear about it nearly every day in the news. But did you know that the earth’s soil gives off carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at a rate of ten times that of human activity? Think about it. Living in the soil are millions of pill bugs, fungi, microbes and worms that breath, digest food and die – just like we do.
In the past, growing plants were able to compensate for this by absorbing the carbon dioxide released from small-scale tillages. Today, the industrial practices of modern agriculture till and compact the soil more than is necessary, and leave little time for fallow fields to restore the complex balance of fertile soil. Small scale gardeners can help reduce this trend by mulching or sheet composting beds to reduce the amount of tilling that is undertaken.
Good Organisms
Untilled soil contains beneficial fungi called vesicular-arbuscular-mycorrhizae, which is commonly abbreviated as VAM. These fungi form a symbiotic relationship with plants – the fungi increase the plant’s root hairs with their filaments, which increases the amount of essential nutrients passed on to the plants. The VAM also distribute zinc, copper, potassium and phosphorus, in return for the carbohydrates provided by the plants. These plant-fungi associations are often destroyed when soil is tilled. A gardener can compensate by mulching the soil heavily until it becomes soft and manageable, thus avoiding tilling.
Surplus Nitrogen
Gardeners tend to use a great deal more nitrogen-based fertilizer and manure than commercial farmers. This practice pollutes the soil around the garden and wastes the gardener’s money. Problems occur when excess nitrogen is applied to the soil and not absorbed by the plants in the garden. This remaining nitrogen can seep into groundwater systems or surface water systems, both of which are common sources of drinking water.
The best advice for addressing all these problems is to remember that everything should be done in moderation. Try not to till the soil to within an inch of its life or apply so much fertilizer that you’ll wind up with mutant tomatoes. Remember that too little – or too much – of anything isn’t healthy. Keep this in mind and you’ll help protect the environment and save a little green for yourself.
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