Fighting Soil Compaction

I have done some research into how to fight soil compaction, so I can come up with a game plan for restoring my compacted soil to healthy, productive soil. The primary thing I learned is that it is difficult to restore compacted soil, and the best solution is prevention. Great. But there are some guidelines and principles I can use:

• Break up the ground to start the process of adding pore space.
• Don’t work with wet compacted clay soil. The molecules can slip into even more compacted configurations. Let the soil dry out a bit.
• Add organic matter, such as compost, to the soil. Work the organic matter into the top few inches of soil. Organic matter breaks down quickly, so this is an iterative process of adding organic matter, working it in to the soil, letting it break down.
• Use mulch to cover soil if you do not plan to plant immediately.
• Keep people from walking over the soil, to prevent further compaction. Ideally provide paths where needed.
• Use a cover crop to protect the soil, and even develop it. In agriculture, farmers plant a cover crop, such as alfalfa, between other crops. A crop like alfalfa, a legume from the Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) family, can actually grow in poor soil, and fix nitrogen in the soil to enrich it. Cut the foliage at the end of the growing season, but leave the roots in the soil to improve aeration.

Agriculture uses cover crops to hold the soil in place,
 and enrich the soil. The same principle can work
in the personal garden.

I learned a lot about soil from the Soil Management class I took from Dr. Ed Brennan, and from a soil compaction project I worked on with team members in the Arboriculture class I took from Jocelyn Cohen, both at Merritt College. Stay tuned to see if this research and knowledge pays off!