The seed displays are up and gardening season has begun. So what’s behind working with that pit of mud that’s now your garden? Let’s start with “Soil, it’s not just dirt!”

There’s really nothing much new about this concept; it’s just that most of us haven’t quite got it yet. No wonder. Farmers and gardeners were once taught that soil is just dirt-- broken down rock whose minerals and characteristics reflect the parent gneiss or schist or shale.