15 Popular Gardening “Shortcuts” That Destroy Your Soil’s Health

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Gardening is a wonderfully rewarding hobby but is also a bit of a finicky hobby to get right. Healthy soil is the foundation for vibrant, thriving plants and when tending your garden, the health of your soil is your most important asset. But some gardening shortcuts can hurt your soil over the long haul. Many of these shortcuts are easy to miss or even seem like a good idea at first, but in reality, they drain the nutrients, disrupt the structure of the soil, and ultimately deny the soil the ability to hold moisture.

The good news is, whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just getting started, you can know what practices can do more harm than good. Here are 15 common gardening habits that appear helpful but, over time, can slowly destroy the health of your soil.

The Use of Plastic Sheeting for Weed Control

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Plastic sheeting can stop weeds but usually at the cost of the soil beneath it. Plastics retains moisture and heat through sealing it, essentially killing beneficial microbes. This can simply, over time, develop into a dead, packed layer of soil underneath. Instead, choose organic mulches or biodegradable weed barriers that won’t suffocate the soil.

Skipping Soil Testing

Gardening without guessing can mean that you won’t get nutrient imbalances, pH problems or other soil health problems. A simple soil test will tell you how much nutrients you have, how much pH you have, and other factors. Regular testing will allow you to make adjustments as needed so that you don’t over fertilize the soil or use other amendments that can damage the soil.

Planting Too Densely

Crop unrecognizable gardener in gloves and jeans planting green plants into fertile soil while working in garden on summer day — Photo Credit: Greta Hoffman/Pexels

Crowding plants can be easy to do, but putting down seeds by the dozen can cause a strain on your soil’s resources. When plants grow too close, they begin to compete for water and, subsequently, nutrients and stunted growth can occur as well as depleted soil. Following spacing recommendations will make for healthier roots in plants and maintain the soil nutrient rich.

Tilling Too Much or Too Often

Person Digging on Soil Using Garden Shovel

Tilling is a good thing to do to loosen compacted soil, but over tilling is one of the fastest ways to disrupt the balance. Repeated tilling busts up soil structure, rips apart beneficial microbes, and releases stored carbon, all which can weaken your soil as time goes by. If your soil needs aeration, use a garden fork or try no-till gardening if you care about protecting soil integrity.

Using Synthetic Fertilizers

The synthetic fertilizers may give you a quick burst of nutrients, but they also do a lot of damage to the soil. Using these fertilizers can up turn the water balance and kill off earthworms and other organisms that help the soil remain healthy. When used too often over time, synthetic fertilizers can become an albatross around our collective necks, slowly making our soil less healthy. Over long term, maintaining soil health is better by using organic compost or natural fertilizers.

Over-Watering Your Garden

a person watering plants with a watering can — Photo Credit: Karolina Kaboompics/Pexels

It’s understandable that you’d want to water your plants too much, after all, it doesn’t seem like much harm. But it can drown roots, compact the soil and wash away nutrients. It prevents oxygen from coming into the soil which can make it difficult for plants to gain their nutrients. Rather, water deeply and infrequently in an effort to encourage growing root deep to further insulate against times where there is no water nearby.

Not Mulching or Using Wrong Mulch

While skipping mulch may save you time, it leaves your soil exposed to erosion and moisture loss. Mulch helps mange soil temperature, keeping the soil softer and more nutrient rich, and the root system of a particular plant determines how much mulch it needs. But if you’re using inorganic mulches – rubber, for example, or stone – you can impair the soil over time, inhibiting air and water absorption. Shredded leaves, straw or wood chips are the best organic mulches for improving soil health.

Heavy Equipment for Compacting Soil

Water, air and roots can’t penetrate the soil if it becomes compacted by heavy machinery or by simply walking on wet soil. When soil becomes compacted, plants can’t grow and in the worst cases, erosion can occur. To stop this, try not to work in the garden after rain and use lightweight tools. Also, create walkways or stepping stones or a defined path that reduces wear in your planting areas.

Leaving Soil Bare

Green Plant on Brown Soil — Photo Credit: Chand Sharma/Pexels

Exposure of soil to moisture loss, to temperature extremes, and, for prolonged periods, to erosion—all result from leaving soil uncovered. To let the soil thrive, it needs protection; if that’s not something you can offer, consider cover crops, mulch, or even ground covers like clover to shield it. Plants grow in a rich soil environment because a protective layer helps maintain beneficial microbes alive and active.

Using Only One Type of Compost

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Repeating use on the same type of compost leads to nutrient imbalances in the soil. For one example, compost made of just kitchen scraps might not contain the complex set of nutrients a plant needs. A rich, well balanced soil is created by mixing different types of compost including leaves, yard trimmings and food waste.

Ignoring pH Levels

Man Planting Plant — Photo Credit: Binyamin Mellish/Pexels

Nutrient availability is largely controlled by soil pH. For instance, if the soil doesn’t have the right amount of pH, the plants can’t absorb the nutrients if they are there. If you test your soil periodically, you can make educated adjustments with lime raising pH or sulfur lowering it. For most plants, aim for slightly acidic to neutral pH around 6.0 to 7.0.

Applying Manure Incorrectly

Fresh manure might sound like a great all natural fertilizer, but you can actually have too much of a good thing with fresh manure if plants aren’t used to it or it has an unfitting pH level that can cause harmful pathogens. It can also cause an additional burden of nitrogen which, if applied directly, can burn plants. To use manure safely, compost it first to reduce any risk of contamination and break down nutrients into a form that is plant friendly.

Removing All Fallen Leaves

Fallen leaves turn out to be quite the natural nourisher and protector of our soil, but it turns out a lot of gardeners rake them back up and whisk them away out of sight. You get a natural mulch layer, moisture retention and a habitat for beneficial bugs with fall leaves. Leave a few leaves in your garden beds to help naturally balance your environment and increase your soil health.

Pesticides and Herbicides Used Carelessly

It may seem that spraying chemicals to control pests or weeds is a good fix, but, often, it damages the broader ecosystem in your soil. Herbicides kill soil microbes that help plants live, and pesticides kill useful organisms that naturally reduce pest numbers. Weeds can be hand pulled or organic pest control methods can be used to help protect the delicate balance of your soil.

Not Rotating Your Crops

If you plant the same crops in the same spots year after year, you are depleting certain nutrients and you may attract pests. Crop rotation helps to keep your nutrients high and disease low. If you don’t have a large garden, rotate families of plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, to different areas each year.

Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.