Living Soils | Resources

compiled by Chris Warburton-Brown (Permaculture Association of Britain)

Living Soils is the GROW theme for August — below are this month’s suggestions of related articles and videos we hope will interest, entertain and educate you!

This video introduces some basic elements of living soil, explaining the value of no-till cultivation and the importance of soil organic matter.

Here’s a short essay that introduces the importance of microbes to healthy garden soil and how compost tea can help them thrive. And here’s one that explains why earthworms are one of our greatest allies in building living soil. You can learn how earthworms form herds and make group decisions here.

Want to see what lives in your soil up close and personal? This short silent film shows dozens of the larger soil invertebrates, while this film lets you watch microscopic bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes.

Finally, this video and short essay introduce the links between soil health and human health, and this article explores the same topic in much more depth.

We’ve got more all about Living Soils on our website, and you can join the conversation on the GROW forum.

Each month, GROW looks at a topic or theme related to our project goals. This becomes our monthly theme, and we develop blogs, activities, and other content to share with you. We also look to other content creators who have interesting ideas to share — from this we develop a monthly links list with suggestions of related articles and videos. These are suggestions from GROW Observatory, as such, these pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the GROW Consortium.