Uses of Soil and Fertile Soil

1Uses of soil

• Growing food: crops like beans, maize, bananas and cassava, and grass for cows and goats, all grow in soil.
• Holding plants up: roots grip the soil so trees and crops stand firm.
• Storing and cleaning water: rain soaks into the soil; as it trickles down, the soil filters it, and it fills springs and wells.
• Building: clay makes bricks and roof tiles; soil makes mud walls; sand is mixed into concrete; murram is used for roads.
• Crafts: clay makes pots and other pottery.
• A home: earthworms, termites, moles and many tiny creatures live in soil.
• Playing fields: the grass of the school football pitch grows in soil.

2What is fertile soil?

Fertile soil is soil that is rich in the nutrients and water plants need, so crops grow well. You can often recognise it:

• It is dark brown or black, because it contains plenty of humus.
• It is soft and crumbly (like loam), so roots can spread easily.
• It holds water but also drains, so roots do not rot.
• It has air in it.
• It has many earthworms and other small living things.
• It has a deep top layer (topsoil).
• It is free of stones, plastic and rubbish.

3Keeping soil fertile

• Add compost (rotted kitchen and garden waste) and manure (cow and goat dung).
• Cover the soil with mulch (dry grass or banana leaves) to keep it moist and feed it as it rots.
• Rotate crops: grow beans in a field after maize; beans help put nitrogen back into the soil.
• Never burn the grass and leaves: burning destroys humus and kills soil life.
• Keep plastic bags out of the soil.

Try it yourself

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