If you are like most people, your soil is probably not an area of focus when it comes to yard work or lawn maintenance. If the soil is overlooked, we could be doing ourselves a great disservice. Extra effort in pest control, fertilizing, and irrigation could be costing us a great deal unless we treat our soil from time to time with care and close attention to its composition.

About half the volume of good soil is taken up by minerals and organic material. The other half is taken up by air between these particles. Half of this space should be air and the other half, water. When the soil has sufficient air, water, minerals, and organic material, we call it good "healthy" soil. This good soil can sustain life and microbial activity.

The top layer of soil, usually two to three inches deep, is most abundant in organic material. Micro biotic life is active and fertile. When you have lots of microbes and other creatures generating nutrients for plant roots, you'll have a suitable environment for a low-maintenance lawn. The more active the micro biotic life in your soil is, the less likely you'll require fertilizers and pesticides.

Good soil will have roughly 25% air, 25% water, 45% minerals, and 5% organic matter.

Many homeowners will find it beneficial to send soil samples to your local county extension office where they can test your soil for these compositions.

Macro organisms like worms, springtails, and mites, along with microorganisms like fungi and bacteria, play significant roles in generating good soil. They break down minerals into liquids to be made available to plants. They also decompose organic material, which produces nutrients for plants. They attack disease organisms like fungal spores and dangerous bacteria and diseases.

Good healthy soil will encourage these organisms. To do this, you will want to follow a few guidelines which we have laid out at The Little Green Apple. Just six easy steps can produce and encourage good soil composition to give you a low maintenance lawn.