Organic Matters

Mon. Apr. 19, 2021
Topic:  Composting · Soil · Vegetables

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Organic Matters

I talked about soil and rain barrels and composting last week. But what about organic matters? What is it? Does it matter? How much organic matter matters? Can it be too much? According to the University of MN Extension, the answer is actually… YES. The link takes you to much more information on the U’s website.

Raised bed ready. I planted garlic last year and am excited to see how it goes! Notice the dried leaves and grasses? That’s organic matter in various stages of decomposition. There’s also left over roots of plants under the soil. 

But first, what is it? Soil organic matter (SOM) is the portion of soil that is composed of living and dead things in various states of decomposition, such as plant roots and microbes.

Organic (carbon-based) materials that we add to the soil, like compost or organic fertilizers, will also contribute to SOM as they are incorporated and decomposed by soil organisms.

finished compost ready for garden bed

Going forward, the best practice is to balance additions of compost or other organic materials with soil testing to truly understand how those materials are impacting your garden’s SOM.

The U says that over time, SOM can build to the point where significantly more nutrients are available in the soil than the plants are able to use. That means excess goes into our waterways and groundwater.

I use last season’s grasses as mulch around my tomatoes and other vegetable crops

Here are good things to do:

  • Reduce the amount of tilling
  • Use cover crops
  • Mulch around crops to keep soil in place and establish a buffer around the garden to minimize runoff. 

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