Ruth Sauer

My neighbor asked me “What are you going to do with that dirt?”

Being immediately offended that he had the nerve to call that dirt, I responded “that is not dirt!”

The conversation continued, “wait, what?!? It looks like dirt, feels like dirt, even smells like dirt. If it is not dirt, what is that pile of stuff?”

To answer that question, it was necessary to examine our pile of stuff and research dirt, and finally label what we have.

Examining this pile, we see that even though our “stuff” has some of the same elements as dirt, it has so much more. The most visible element we observe is life, both visible and invisible to the naked eye. Visual includes plants, insects, and worms. Invisible life includes fungi, bacteria, minerals, and microorganisms. The color of our pile looks rich due to those elements.

What is dirt? Dirt is sand, silt, clay and rocks. Dirt has no organized ecosystem, no plants and other organisms, there is no life. Dirt is a dead, disorganized mess. Dirt just lays there, ho hum.

After the visual inspection of our pile of stuff and research to further support our conclusion, we can label our pile of stuff as soil.

Soil is life — plants, organisms, minerals, an organized, diverse ecosystem. These elements were added by nature and mankind. Soil started out as dirt and became much more.

Smith County Master Gardeners wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!