Home & Garden...

Recently Building Soil launched. Brainchild of the Washington Organic Recycling Council, this new site offers ideas for builders and home owner surrounding preservation and restoration of healthy soil on building plots. The site is largely slanted at builders, but is a useful read for homeowners as well. It might especially come in handy if you’re considering selling your home, because healthy landscaping is a selling point.

According to Building Soil, healthy soil is important because:

• “More marketable buildings and landscapes
• Better site erosion control
• Reduced need for water and chemicals
• Less stormwater runoff, better water quality
• Healthy landscapes”

Of course some of these reasons apply more for builders, not homeowners, but in the long run healthy soil and green living is all connected. A major benefit for gardening homeowners is that healthy soil will lead to easier organic garden management overall. You can’t build up from damaged soil.

Building Soil is a great site. You can find lots of useful tips, tricks, and projects. Some of the items offered by the site include:

• Best management practices for soil during construction.
• Homebuyer factsheet (pdf) – all the benefits you’ll want to know.
• Landscaping guide
• And more

Sister site to Building Soil is Soil for Salmon, which covers more of the eco-end of the big soil picture. At Soil for Salmon you can learn about how healthy vs. unhealthy soil affects our rivers, streams, lakes, and communities overall. Without healthy soil we’re going to lose more than just some dirt. Soil affects plant nourishment, cleans stormwater, and protects the animals that depend on water areas.

While Soil for Salmon is geared toward Washington state residents, the information offered is useful for soil preservation everywhere. You may not have salmon in your community but you certainly have humans and wildlife that need healthy soil and water.

Visit Building Soil and Soil for Salmon to learn more.