You may not have ever heard of Elaine Ingham, but if you read this column and follow my advice, you are using her concepts. Dr. Elaine, as her disciples called her, passed away last month. It is a tragic loss.
In simplest terms, Dr. Elaine is largely responsible for all of us understanding soil is not an inert, sterile substance and there is not a dead zone beneath our feet. She was a pioneer in advising about the dangers of tilling and other soil disturbances. She led the movement to replace the use of salt-based fertilizers with a microbiological system.
The soil food web is the science of who eats whom in the soil. Dr. Elaine is largely responsible for the understanding by gardeners and farmers that soil is alive and full of microbes and arthropods that consume one another. The resulting waste products provide food for inhabitants in the soil, with bacteria and protozoa at the bottom of the chain. When they are consumed, the waste products feed plants; the microbes put a charge on these waste molecules, and this enables them to be taken up by plants. All of this is amazing stuff.
I first came across the good doctor when a friend reported he sent her a sample of what we all call Alaskan “peat.” Alaskans think our peat is sterile, but she was stunned by its extremely high and diverse microbiology. She was giving a lecture at the Julia Child Foundation in California and he insisted I attend. I am glad I did. What a talk: the soil food web. It hit me in the same way geometry did. All the pieces fit so perfectly. It was (and still is) a beautiful system.
She also suggested our highly microbiological peat was more akin to humus, which is the end product of composting, sort of a product that cannot be composted any further but can serve as a condominium for soil biology.
I set up a Listserv (remember those?) so a group of us could learn and discuss soil science with Dr. Elaine. It was a help to her in spreading her teachings. She started to read my columns, which contained soil food web concepts, and eventually asked if I would write a book for her. The result was “Teaming With Microbes.” I get the credit, but in my mind (and lectures), the credit goes to Dr. Elaine. Who knew soil was so exciting? Not this Miracle-Gro user.
Dr. Elaine recognized that plants put out exudates that attract the right kinds of bacteria and fungi, which are in turn consumed by nematodes and protozoa. The resultant waste products are in plant-useable form. She understood that the plant is in control and can change the exudate mix to obtain what it needs to grow. Moreover, she did this with what we would now call primitive microscopy. Whew, she was quite a scientist.
She also discovered that plants that spend less than a year in the ground (annuals and row crops) prefer soil dominated by bacteria. Trees and perennials, which stay in the ground more than a season, prefer soil dominated by fungi. Knowing this alters how one cares for these plants, as there are mulches that work best in fostering either bacteria or fungi and even both.
Elaine also promoted the concept of “no till,” having come to the realization that fungi play a key role in promoting and maintaining plant health and that rototilling destroys a garden’s fungal structure. You don’t have to destroy a plot’s entire fungal network to plant a few seeds or transplants. It can take months for a new fungal network to form.
Dr. Elaine will be sorely missed. How fortunate we are to have her understanding of the soil food web to remember her by.
Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar:
Alaska Botanical Garden: Classes on tool sharpening and seed starting. Seed exchange coming up. You don’t have to join, but you really, really, really should. Great cities have botanical gardens.
Flower seeds to start: Sweet peas, but pinch them back.
Vegetables to start: Celery from seed. You can also take the tops of grocery “grown” celery and plant it in soil to get a second crop. This is a good exercise for children who are curious and might help them become interested in gardening.