As you pull carrots out of your garden this fall, you can use the roots to get an idea about your soil’s quality. You might have already noticed the differences in shape between carrots grown in different parts of your garden in year past. For example, did you ever dig up a bed of carrots and find that all of the roots had split and twisted into a jumbled mess? Sometimes, carrots curl around each other because you didn’t thin the crop sufficiently. But splitting, gnarled carrots that aren’t closely intertwined are generally a sign that your soil is either compacted or is full of pebbles and rocks.
What do I mean by compacted soil? Even though the earth seems solid when we’re striding across it, as soon as you start peering closely at the dirt, you’ll notice lots of air spaces between the grains. Unfortunately, it’s relatively easy to mash your soil down so those air spaces disappear, a process known as compaction.
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What’s next? You can physically fluff up soil with the broadfork, a tool that opens up spaces between soil particles without turning the layers of the earth. But before you rush out and buy expensive tools, I should tell you that moderately compacted soil often responds just as well to the action of biotillage cover crops like oilseed radishes. These deep-rooted plants easily push their roots through hard layers of soil, leaving biopores behind after they rot in place and increasing soil organic-matter levels in the process.
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Biopores aren’t the be-all and end-all of soil structure, though. In fact, much smaller channels between soil aggregates are just as important for healthy crops. These minuscule pathways do some of the same work as biopores, helping with air exchange and water management for example. But the smaller air cavities work a bit differently—rather than helping rain soak into the earth, mini-pores ensure that your soil can hold onto the falling water so all of the moisture doesn’t drain away between storms. …………
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Article source: Mother Earth News
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