The Secret Universe Beneath Our Feet: Rediscovering the Life of Soil

Soil. We walk on it, grow our food in it but unfortunately, most of us, take it for granted. Yet beneath our dirty boots lies a hidden kingdom more intricate and alive than we ever realise. In fact, we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the secrets within our soil. And that's astonishing because this silent underground realm is the very foundation of life on Earth.

In this post, we’ll uncover why soil is so much more than just dirt. You’ll see how it fuels our planet through carbon sequestration, how it communicates through vast fungal networks, and what we as humble gardeners and humans can do to protect this extraordinary world. Welcome to the secret universe beneath our feet.

A Universe Underfoot

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine scooping up a handful of healthy soil. Within that small clump, billions of organisms are at work: from bacteria, and fungi, all the way up to the third-level consumers like earthworms, and countless other creatures that are huge enough in their world for our limited human eyesight to interpret. Together, they form a bustling megatropolis that has been quietly operating for millennia.

Unseen Abundance: A mere teaspoon of healthy soil contains more organisms than there are grains of sand on Earth.

Essential Workforce: These microbes cycle the life-creating nutrients that we depend on; they decompose organic matter, and even enable plants to defend themselves against pests.

Symbiosis Everywhere: The mycorrhizal fungal network stretches akin to a mega internet underground, connecting plant roots, transferring the nutrients of life, and delivering the news, important warnings, and support the universe around it requires.

Soil is not an inert medium we simply grow stuff in; it's a living, breathing universe more complex and beautiful than any we can view above ground. Once we learn to see soil as the vibrant network of communities it truly is, we’ll surely begin to respect and nurture it.

The Soil Information highway

One of nature’s most spectacular feats unfolds beneath our feet each day: the Soil Network, often called the “Wood Wide Web.” This remarkable underground web functions as both a complex set of trade agreements and a life-support system, allowing plants and fungi to unite for survival-enabling soil health, regenerative gardening, and even carbon sequestration along the way.

Fungal Freeways: Mycorrhizal fungi act like tiny highways, allowing plants to share vital resources, sugars, minerals, water, and even messages with one another.

Warning & Support: Through chemical signals, a plant under attack by pests can warn its neighbours, prompting them to strengthen their defences. In some cases, established trees feed young seedlings, ensuring a better chance of survival.

Cooperation, Not Competition: This silent but continuous conversation exemplifies interdependence. It's a subterranean dance of mutual benefit that has evolved over eons.

It's easy to call soil just dirt when we can’t see these intricate connections. When we open our inner eyes, we discover an ancient, intelligent community that shapes the future of life on Earth.

Carbon: The Currency of Life

We often hear about carbon in the context of pollution or climate change. Yet in the realm of soil health, carbon is anything but a villain, in fact, it’s the lifeblood of the underground world.

Fuel for Life: Through photosynthesis, plants pull carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, convert it into sugars, and send these sugars into their roots to exchange with soil microbes.

Building Soil Structure: Carbon-rich soils hold water, support beneficial microbial activity, and create that delicious, crumbly, chocolate cake texture we love.

A Delicate Balance: Healthy, protected soil sequesters carbon, keeping it locked where it benefits life. Conversely, excessive tilling, deforestation, or the use of chemical inputs releases stored carbon back into the atmosphere, disrupting both soil ecosystems and the global climate balance.

The Soil-Carbon Connection

Soil is a massive carbon bank. Plants continually deposit carbon below ground, while microbes, fungi, and other organisms go about locking it away. This process is vital for regenerative farming, vigorous plant growth and combatting climate instability.

Carbon Sinks vs. Carbon Sources

Healthy Soil: Acts as a carbon sink, boosts above-ground biodiversity, improves water retention, and fosters resilience against drought.

Degraded Soil: Releases carbon, contributes to greenhouse gases, and erodes easily, constantly weakening the plant and microbial networks' chances to rebuild their way.

Imagine the ripple effect if millions of acres of degraded soil were restored into thriving, carbon-rich ecosystems. Those same acres could pull carbon from the air, support robust plant life, and nourish entire communities above and below ground.

The Gardeners Role

Stewarding the Underground Kingdom

As gardeners, farmers, or simply interested and conscientious humans, we have the power to enable to revival of soil health and encourage carbon sequestration where it matters most. Here are a few ways to protect and nurture the soil microbiome:

Keep It Covered

• Use mulch and compost to protect soil from erosion and extreme temperatures.

  
  

• Maintaining living roots in the ground year-round helps stabilize soil structure and support beneficial microbes.

Reduce Disturbance (do less)

• Minimise tilling as much as feasible, it disrupts fungal networks and releases stored carbon every single time.

  
  

• Embrace no-dig or minimal-dig practices to keep soil biology intact.

Feed the Soil, Not the Crop

• Add organic matter like biochar, compost or well-rotted manure to build and create the structure for soil's natural fertility.

  
  

• Say no to chemical fertilisers (most commercial fertilisers are chemical based; they're tricky those big companies, don't be the one to get tricked with tricky marketing!), they disrupt the delicate microbial balance and lead to nutrient imbalances.

Encourage Biodiversity

• Plant various crops (including cover crops) and use companion planting to create a robust, interlinked ecosystem above the ground.

  
  

• Biodiverse plantings support a wide range of beneficial microbes, insects, and animals, all crucial for regenerative farming and gardening.

  
  

• By treating soil as a lifetime partner, rather than a disposable resource, each backyard, farm, or community garden can become a sanctuary for this ancient, life-sustaining realm.

Choose to Build, Choose to Heal

The next time you step into your garden or walk on bare ground, take a moment to feel the soil beneath your feet. Remember, it’s teeming with the activity of an underground cosmos of microbes, fungi, and plant roots engaged in a silent symphony of cooperation we humans couldn't possibly understand the majesty of.

Keep Soil Rooted

Living plants help lock carbon where it belongs underground.

Return Organic Matter

Compost garden waste instead of discarding it; every bit of organic material fuels the soil food web.

No Chemicals

Synthetic inputs devastate microbial life, disrupting the long-term stability of soil ecosystems.

Soil is more than just the ground beneath us. It's the cornerstone of everything that grows our food, our forests, and our future. When we invest in healthy soil, we’re really investing in a better way of life. We have the capacity to nourish and protect it, we just have to take a moment and rediscover how to listen to it.

Final Word: A Call to Rediscovery

“When we change the way we see and feel soil, we will change the way we treat the world because we'll see it differently. And when we change the way we treat our place in the world, we have the power to change the future.”

Ready to explore more about regenerative gardening, soil health, and carbon sequestration? Visit www.biobloom.au and join our journey toward a greener, more resilient future.