What made the biggest difference in your soil over the long run?

I’ve been gardening for many years, mostly in heavier soil, and one thing that’s stood out to me is how slowly real improvement shows up. Some of the best changes I’ve seen didn’t happen in one season, but over several years of leaving things alone more, disturbing the soil less, and letting biology catch up. Especially with clay and weather swings, it feels like patience has mattered more than any single amendment. I’m curious how others here have seen their soil change over the long term what shifts took years to show results, and what ended up making the biggest difference looking back?

For me in north Texas, its been composting everything I can in place, and supplementing as I can with wood chips and manure. I went from straight sand in an oak forest to a foot deep of dark black soil full of life.over 10 years. Not hard work, and totally worth it. I prefer adding soil on top rather than trying to amend it in ground. Just my experience.

I bet its much colder up north!

Organic matter such as leaf mold and compost.

You might enjoy the Soil Series by Dr Bryant Redhawk:

https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil

Especially these:

https://permies.com/t/63914/Soil

https://permies.com/t/93911/soil-mother-nature

The 'best' amendment that I have added to my garden spaces has to be mulch. By insulating and protecting the soil, I have found that it loosens and resists crusting which has been a boon to my gardening.

I have been working on changing lawn into growing space by putting a thick layer of mulch on top of an area and leaving it for a growing season. The next year, the soil is loose and easier to work with. I have found time to be my friend when it comes to ease of gardening.

Keeping chickens has made the biggest difference for us.

We keep them in a combined run/coop with rabbits and have ~12"-~16" of deep litter. We bag and add all of our grass clipping and fall leaves as well as any extra mulch to their area. I remove some of the material in late fall or early spring and age it. Then it gets spread over the regular garden beds and raised garden beds.

It took about a year for the magic to happen in the deep litter, it didn't look like much until then. I turn it with a garden fork regularly to speed the process up and keep from getting any hard pan areas. It is a somewhat labor intensive process at the times where I am harvesting the material or turning it. Otherwise, the chickens do everything.

A close second would be mulching every area we could, as we had the time. I think those 2 approaches work well together.

For context, we normally like to have 22-25 hens for eggs, and a rooster or two. We also hatch eggs and tractor those to butcher but the only contribution they make to the deep litter is what I move from the brooder into the coop/run after I move them to the tractors.

I have seen where some people will build a lightweight portable tractor and move it around their garden bed after the season is over. They put a couple of chickens in it during the day and move them back to the coop at night. I have not had time to try that yet.  

Mulch…lots of it…in raised beds.   This week I am tossing 30 old bales of straw into my raised beds. Then I am cleaning out the stalls in my barn.  That should given me 7 raised beds that will be in excellent condition for spring.

And, because there can be a fine line, I see this as different than the compost I add in the spring.   The compost is already  broken down. Normally, it takes the straw 2 to 3 years to break down.

Lenora L.Parr wrote:I’ve been gardening for many years, mostly in heavier soil, and one thing that’s stood out to me is how slowly real improvement shows up. Some of the best changes I’ve seen didn’t happen in one season, but over several years of leaving things alone more, disturbing the soil less, and letting biology catch up. Especially with clay and weather swings, it feels like patience has mattered more than any single amendment. I’m curious how others here have seen their soil change over the long term what shifts took years to show results, and what ended up making the biggest difference looking back?

I've noticed the same thing. Taking a "do no harm" approach has worked for me. Letting things that want to grow do their thing without my intervention. Basically letting the soil heal itself from much past abuse and nudging things along without trying to control everything.

For me I think what has helped the overall gardening and the soil the most is supporting native habitats. Restoring some native plants for the benefit of the helpful creatures that are supposed to be there. Putting up bird houses and perches for bluebirds etc. has made an huge difference in overall health of my land and gardens.

I encourage all of the critters with brush piles and rock piles. Yes, sometimes there is some damage done by some of these "pests" but I believe they contribute much more good than harm. If something is harmed or killed by pests it just means I didn't take the time to protect it.

Biochar, no-till, and deep mulching. My soil is a fine-grain silt loam and although its fertility is decent and I've used lots of compost over the years, the big change happened when I stopped digging, started adding biochar, and got into deep mulch with wood chips. Biochar adds structure and aeration that the unamended soil here is lacking, keeping it better hydrated during dry periods and preventing it from getting waterlogged and going anaerobic when it's wet for long spells. Avoiding disturbance helps preserve that structure as it develops, and this means all amendments go on top now - e.g. mulch.

The partial exceptions I make to the no-dig rule are around harvesting root crops like potatoes and kūmara, but even with these I don't have to fully dig a bed to get what I'm after. I also use a broadfork occasionally to loosen beds and this opens cracks that allow the decomposed mulch and biochar to work into the deeper parts of the soil.

One of the most welcome differences is how easy it is to pull some of the more troublesome weeds like buttercup, convolvulus, and grasses. These used to require tools to get the roots out but now most of the time I can just give a decent tug and they pop right out. Even fennel and dock with 25 cm taproots slide right out sometimes, and those get left on the surface to return all the good stuff that they mined from the subsoil.

Phil Stevens wrote:Biochar, no-till, and deep mulching. My soil is a fine-grain silt loam and although its fertility is decent and I've used lots of compost over the years, the big change happened when I stopped digging, started adding biochar, and got into deep mulch with wood chips. Biochar adds structure and aeration that the unamended soil here is lacking, keeping it better hydrated during dry periods and preventing it from getting waterlogged and going anaerobic when it's wet for long spells. Avoiding disturbance helps preserve that structure as it develops, and this means all amendments go on top now - e.g. mulch.

The partial exceptions I make to the no-dig rule are around harvesting root crops like potatoes and kūmara, but even with these I don't hav.....

Well said! I 100% agree. It sounds like we have similar native  soils. I could do more biochar for sure, but I heat my house with wood so I tend to use it all inside :)

28 years ago I began burning brush into charcoal and keeping things mowed. Added seeds of new fodder and anti parasite plants for pastures. I began to have harder times with drought and the soil lost fertility.  A few years ago I stopped burning except to vanish non biodegradable household waste. I began stacking all brush into piles.The brush piles act as fungi web feeders and perreneal compost. I allowed the pastures to grow all year whatever they wanted to and stopped mowing until late winter. This allowed maximum biomass production, deep rooted plants to aid perculation into my pastures. Mowing only in late winter there is no chance of killing land turtles, fawns or other often mown wildlife. The topsoil rapidly accumulated humus and the beneficial fungi colonized every niche. The new plants that colonized were mostly edible and all were beneficial.  My gardens are often made by electric fencing parts of the pasture. Of course the wide variety of plants improved soil structure and kept water from washing away animal nitrates and manure. This once annual mowing and no more brush burning has made the biggest difference in my soil. I found turning my brush piles  into biochar was detrimental to my soil building and the brush piles gave hibernation homes and nesting shelter to wildlife. Blackberries thrive up and over the brush piles because they hold moisture and nutrients.

I have permanent mounded garden beds and fields and pastures here in previous tobacco/grazing land in Central NC. I handle the two spaces differently because it’s hard to mulch 120 acres no matter how many loads Asplundh brings you.

In the gardens there’s two types of amendments: good and bad. Anything I think is good gets put on top. If you don’t mix it in it’s hard to do damage: mulch, compost, hay (no persistent broadleaf sprayed stuff - that sets you way back), ash, charcoal, whatever. Every year gets better and better. Just be patient and go for the small wins. Keep it fun so you keep it up and don’t be discouraged if some years some things fail. I don’t overreact with pests or deficiencies and usually they correct themself.

Big scale is so different, spread as much good stuff as you can, but also don’t be afraid to do a few applications of P K when you get started. Bring some levels back up and then stop “mining” the soil, and it starts to cycle again. Keep in mind how abused most land currently is. You’re not starting from Step 1, you’re at Step -100.

Another thing I want to mention is very strategic sub soiling. You can do it wrong but if you do it right it does so much good. It’s a good alternative to swales if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life making turns on a tractor.

Y’all are loving Mother Nature and bringing life back into the world. Just keep going!