Conditioning your soil Plants need certain nutrients in fairly large quantities for them to be healthy. A natural soil conditioner is better for your garden as it avoids any pollution that may occur in the production of a commercial fertilizer and any pollution that the chemical fertilizer may subsequently cause. Artificial fertilisers bypass the soil-living creatures which are vital to the natural chain of organic soil conditioning and plant fertility, moving straight to the root of the plant. They supply a limited range of plant foods which dissolve quickly in soil, so they are all available at once. What the plant does not use is then often washed out of the soil, wasting resources and polluting the environment.
Organic fertilisers are really just man speeding up nature's process.
In nature organic matter comes mainly from dead plant material and animal manures. The plant remains contain organic compounds, sugars, starches, proteins, waxes and many more complicated molecules. In warm soils, with plenty of soil life and a good balance of air and water, the organic matter is broken down, the easy bits first, such as sugars, and the 'chewy' bits, such as woody materials last. Carbon dioxide is given off as the organic matter decays. Most gardeners are continuously removing organic matter and potential humus.