The Four 'R's

To reduce waste on our planet and prevent the environment from getting worse, there are four R-words that we can follow to help our planet recover from the waste we have caused to pile up throughout the years.

Reduce

Try not to buy disposable items.  Think of all the thousands of tea bags, disposable razor blades and styrofoam cups are thrown away every day.  Styrofoam is especially bad for the environment.  Try to reuse these things, or find a version that is reusable.  

Reuse

Try to fix things rather than buy new ones immediately.  There are plenty of items that you can reuse instead of throwing away.  If a shirt rips sew it, if a button comes off sew it back on.  If an electronic breaks fix it or figure out a solution.  Not everything has to be thrown away immediately!  Rather than tea bags, invest in a tea infuser.  Instead of paper cups, use washable glasses.

Recycle

Sometimes you can't reuse or fix something.  Try to find a way to recycle it!  Old batteries and electronics can be recycled.  So can plastic bottles and aluminum cans.

Rot

The 'R' that everyone seems to forget.  Instead of throwing away apple cores or banana peels, get a compost bin!  Throw the scraps in there, throw all your scraps in!  This reduces landfill waste while also creating your own usable soil.  Throw in a few worms if you want it to go faster!

If you want to help the environment, remember the four 'R's!  But don't feel bad about getting a fancy new computer for yourself when your old one was just fine.  Individual consumers don't effect the environment as much as extremely wasteful large corporations.  That's capitalism for you.

What Makes Ideal Soil?

So, what makes ideal soil?  To answer this, we first have to look at all of the different naturally occurring soil types.  Most gardeners group these types into one of five:

• Sandy Soil:  Has the largest particles, does not hold onto water well.  Nutrients are very easily washed away.  However, it becomes warm fast when exposed to the sun.  It is also lightweight compared to the other types.  It is dry and gritty.
• Silty Soil: This type of soil has smaller particles than sand.  This type of soil retains water slightly better than sand.  However, it doesn't hold many nutrients, nor is it aerated well.  It also tends to be too compact and thus can get too wet for the plant.  It is smooth to the touch, and becomes slick when wet.
• Clay Soil: This soil has the smallest particles of all the main types, allowing it to store water  and nutrients easily.  However, with how compact it gets, it can get hard and heavy once it dries out.  It also takes a while to warm up.  It feels sticky to the touch when wet, smooth when dry.
• Peaty Soil: This type of soil is very moist and filled with nutritious organic matter.  It is very heavily saturated with water and sometimes can need to be drained.  It is capable of holding in moisture during hot and dry months while also protecting the roots from over saturation of water during rainy months.  It is slightly acidic.  Peat can also be a fire hazard if it gets too dry.  It is sponge-like to the touch, and may leak water when squeezed.
• Saline Soil: Found in extremely dry regions, this type of soil has a very high salt content.  This soil isn't very good for plants as the salt suck up all the water that the roots can use.  It usually has a film of white over the top due to the salt.

Which of these soils is the perfect soil?

Botanists and casual gardeners around the world have used trial and error to figure out the ideal soil for their plants before we even had a Periodic Table, and from this we have learned that though every species of plants have different needs and chemical balances, there is one type of soil that has mostly perks and few downsides.

This soil is called "loam."  Loam is made by combining silt, clay, and sand, as well as a bit of humus.  It has a high content of organic matter, as well as being slightly acidic and high in calcium.  It is capable of holding tightly to water, but is also capable of draining access due to the space between the soil particles.  This is the type of soil we are aiming for when it comes to nutrition content, texture, water retainability and particle size.  According to AgVerra.com, "The feel test for loam yields a smooth, partly gritty, partly sticky ball that crumbles easily."  [Leineriza]

This type of soil is the end goal that we hope to achieve.

Now that we know the perfect texture for soil, what about the chemicals inside of it?  That will be the topic of our next post.

- Mallory