General Considerations of a Farmland

A first definition of the soil: the living earth from a definition of land proposed Lea Harrison in his article Soil Fertility: "It's a mixture of organic and inorganic materials containing a variety of macro-organisms (eg earthworms, ants, earwigs, etc.). and microorganisms (bacteria, algae, fungi). The ground anchor provides support for the plants, which extract water and nutrients from it. These nutrients are returned to the soil by the action of soil organisms on plants dead or dying pathway and animal matter. Thus begin to appear the first notions on the subject.

By way of introduction, we can say that there are three macro nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), each plant will land what is most needed for each function, nitrogen for everything called green leaves and young shoots and new, the rest for flowering and fruit formation.

But the newest of the definition refers to the idea of combining inorganic and organic matter in the presence of microorganisms, it allows us to understand the soil as a living thing , in which different processes occur. On earth, still we have in our pots, there is life: organisms and microorganisms are in continuous activity, organic matter processing by allowing the plants to feed. As pointed out by INTA: "Good soil is a living system inhabited by macro-organisms (insects, earthworms, woodlice, rodents) and microorganisms (algae, fungi and bacteria), closely associated with soil organic fraction, which accounts for most of them a source of food (energy and nutrients). " Furthermore, the requirements for these organisms to "work" are minimal: occasional water (moisture), organic matter of course for food and oxygen, which is why the vast majority Activity is on the surface of the earth.

A special place in the process meet the worms, because in addition to digging tunnels that allow the soil is aerated (favoring the life of microorganisms), organic matter processed much faster, creating a richer soil in less time. Also worth mentioning, although it is not relevant to urban gardens, which together with this activity on the organic matter, inorganic also gives another continuous process: the same erosion over millions of years became the rock on the ground still keeps happening.