Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: The magic of microbes
Microbes are everywhere! In our soil, in our plants which means in our food and water and, of course our guts. So why should we care? Well… without them life would cease to exist.
Here’s the definition from Merriam-Webster: Microbes, or microorganisms, include bacteria, protozoa, fungi, algae, amoebas, and slime molds. Many people think of microbes as simply the causes of disease, but every human is actually the host to billions of microbes, and most of them are essential to our life. Much research is now going into possible microbial sources of future energy; algae looks particularly promising, as do certain newly discovered or created microbes that can produce cellulose, to be turned into ethanol and other biofuels.
A little gram of soil that’s the size of the tip of your little finger has 10 million microbes! Scientists are mapping microbes and figuring out ways to manufacture them without harming our plants. An example is the cancer drug Taxol. It was discovered on the bark of yew trees which meant they nearly became endangered from overharvesting until scientists figured out that the actual basis for the drug was the microbes that live ON the trees rather than the trees. Pretty cool.
Microbes have a lot to do with maintaining good soil structure, which promotes infiltration and drainage of water, soil aeration, and vigorous root growth and exploration.
Gummy substances produced by soil microbes help cement soil particles together into aggregates, which contribute to soil structure. This cement also makes aggregates less likely to crumble when exposed to water. That’s a good thing! In general, the abundance of microbes in soil is proportional to the organic matter content. Add that compost!
