Continued planting of crops in your garden depletes your soil and after a couple of planting seasons, you will notice a huge decrease in your harvest. This is because the soil does not have more nutrients available for the plants to sustain growth.

Therefore, it is vital that you manage your garden properly so that it is productive again for the next growing season. Otherwise, your efforts would be wasted and you would be wasting your time planting with no return on your investment.

There are crops that are considered heavy users of soil nutrients. They consumed most of the nutrients from food throughout their growing period, such as corn, sorghum, sweet potato, rice, and many more. While there are crops that are good boastful of the soil. They contribute to maintaining the availability of nutrients in the soil for the benefit of other commercial crops.

Ways to replenish soil nutrients in your garden

• Biointensive gardening

This method of maintaining the fertility of your soil involves burying some garden grass clippings and other waste products after harvest. This practice is famous in a small land area where you have to maximize the use of land to plant different types of crops. Burning is not allowed in biointensive gardening. All the waste materials are buried underground to decompose naturally with the help of some microorganisms under the soil profile.

• Crop rotation

Crop planting rotation minimizes excessive depletion of major elements, especially when soil-boasting crops are planted alternately with soil-depleting crops. After harvesting your current crops, you need to plant another set of crops, such as leguminous plants, to help rejuvenate your depleted soil. Legume crops include all types of beans, ipil-ipil as border plants, and other types of legumes.

Always plan your planting schedule to include soil-improving crops with other crops that deplete your soil to keep nutrients present in your garden for continuous crops throughout the year.

• Composting

One way that nutrients are returned to the soil is through composting. This is done by using waste materials including plant debris, leaves, grass, garbage (kitchen waste), and animal manure. Some soil microbes and bacteria work to break down organic material into compost to add nutrients to the soil so that they remain useful for another growing season.

• Cover crop

Another popular way to replenish your soil is by using a so-called cover crop or living mulch within your plant population. This method involves planting covers during the winter season and then plowing under the soil to break it down. Other ways are by growing cover crops as a cash crop during regular planting time and serving as a living mulch. They are planted between rows of the main crop to reduce nutrient leaching. Other benefits of cover crops include improving soil slope, controlling weed growth, controlling soil erosion, and maintaining the presence of organic matter in the soil.

Happy gardening!