Soil is not simply dirt. This fundamental distinction shapes everything in this guide. While dirt is lifeless, compacted mineral particles, soil is a complex, living ecosystem teeming with billions of organisms. Understanding soil as a living system transforms how you approach gardening, composting, and land stewardship.
Soil is composed of three interacting systems: physical structure, chemical properties, and biological communities. Understanding how these components interact helps you manage soil holistically rather than addressing symptoms in isolation.
The soil food web is the community of organisms that live all or part of their lives in soil. Like any ecosystem, it has producers, consumers, and decomposers connected by who eats whom. Understanding this web helps you manage soil by supporting the organisms that do the work.