Most people think of soil erosion as a problem for major agricultural operations. However, soil erosion can work its wear and tear on a backyard garden over time, slowly but surely depleting your plot’s ability to produce beautiful flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
The primary causes of soil erosion are wind and rain. Wind can pick up the fine particles of soil at the surface level and carry a thin layer off into the atmosphere. When you add up those thin layers over the years, the result can be rocky, gravelly, or claylike soil that is less productive. Water is even more efficient at depleting soil from a garden as it simply picks it up and carries it away.
Fortunately, the arts of agronomy and soil science have provided solutions to protect garden soil, hold it in place. There are even ways to regenerate soil surfaces that have been depleted.
1. Covering Your Soil
Soil can be protected with living plant materials to prevent erosion during the off-season. Farmers, for example, now often leave the stubble of a wheatfield in place all winter rather than plowing a field after fall harvest. You can do the same with a garden by planting certain types of grass that will be easy to remove in the spring.
Other plants, such as periwinkle and creeping juniper, can serve this purpose well.
You can also cover the soil with artificial products, such as erosion control products made of natural, breathable materials. Surrounding a garden with shrubs and bushes can protect it from the wind. Professional farmers plant rows of trees called “shelter belts” around their fields to protect them from wind erosion.
2. Physical Structures
Terracing is a well-known and frequently used method for keeping soil in place. This is rather labor-intensive. However, creating a series of “step-like” or ascending and descending plateaus of soil will keep the soil in place on each level.
Other physical barriers can form the same wind-protective function as bushes and hedges. These include stone retaining walls and riprap. The latter are structures made from rough rocks or chunks of concrete that not only protect from wind, but they also slow the outflow of water and lessen its ability to carry soil away.
3. Mulching
A layer of mulch made from wood chips, straw, bark, or compost on top of the soil will protect it from both wind and rain. Similar to mulch are erosion control mats made from natural, biodegradable materials. Mulch and erosion mats are most effective for areas of gentle slope.
4. No-Till or Reduced Till Methods
No-till has become popular among professional farmers. Rather than moldboard plowing and then cultivating an open field, farmers use an enhanced mechanical seed drill to drive seeds directly into the field stubble. Studies show that this not only reduces weeds (and thus the need for harsh chemical herbicides), but it is also extremely effective in protecting soils from wind and rain erosion over the offseason.
Can gardeners do the same? Well, not exactly. However, skilled gardeners can insert their plants into plots that are largely covered with a protective mulch, mats or other barriers — but which also have small open spaces where plants can be inserted and grow.
Implementing soil conservation measures for a garden takes a lot of planning, work and some skill, but the payoff is preserving the richness and fertility of the soil that your favorite plants will thrive within for years to come.