Howard also tells of creating a super-healthy herd of work oxen on his research farm at Indore, India.  After a few years of meticulous composting and restoration of soil life, Howard’s oxen glowed with well-being.  As a demonstration he intentionally allowed his animals to rub noses across the fence with neighboring oxen known to be infected with hoof and mouth and other cattle plagues.  His animals remained healthy.  I have read so many similar accounts in the literature of the organic farming movement that in my mind there is no denying the relationship between the nutritional quality of plants and the presence of organic matter in soil.  Many other organic gardeners reach the same conclusion.  But most gardeners do not understand one critical difference between farming and gardening:  most agricultural radicals start farming on run-down land grossly deficient in organic matter.  The plant and animal health improvements they describe come from restoration of soil balance, from approaching a climax humus level much like I’ve done in my pasture by no longer removing the grass.

But home gardeners and market gardeners near cities are able to get their hands on virtually unlimited quantities of organic matter.  Encouraged by a mistaken belief that the more organic matter the healthier, they enrich their soil far beyond any natural capacity.  Often this is called “building up the soil.”  But increasing organic matter in gardens well above a climax ecology level does not further increase the nutritional value of vegetables and in many circumstances will decrease their value markedly.

For many years I have lectured on organic gardening to the Extension Service’s master gardener classes.  Part of the master gardener training includes interpreting soil test results.  In the early 1980s when Oregon State government had more money, all master gardener trainees were given a free soil test of their own garden.  Inevitably, an older gentlemen would come up after my lecture and ask my interpretation of his puzzling soil test.

Ladies, please excuse me.  Lecturing in this era of women’s lib I’ve broken my politically incorrect habit of saying “the gardener, he ...” but in this case it was always a man, an organic gardener who had been building up his soil for years.

The average soils in our region test moderately-to strongly acid; are low in nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium; quite adequate in potassium; and have 3-4 percent organic matter.  Mr. Organic’s soil test showed an organic matter content of 15 to 20 percent with more than adequate nitrogen and a pH of 7.2.  However there was virtually no phosphorus, calcium or magnesium and four times the amount of potassium that any farm agent would ever recommend.  On the bottom of the test, always written in red ink, underlined, with three exclamation points, “No more wood ashes for five years!!!” Because so many people in the Maritime northwest heat with firewood, the soil tester had mistakenly assumed that the soil became alkaline and developed such a potassium imbalance from heavy applications of wood ashes.