Soil cover's most of the world's land and we need it to grow plants for food.
Soil is made from: worn down rock, humus (dead and rotting material), air and water.
Soil is full of life:
- worms, insects and termites eat, live and die in the soil;
- microbes like bacteria break down dead plants and animals.
The properties of a soil depend on what kind of worn dock rock it comes from:
- sandy soil is pale coloured, usually feels dry and has few nutrients in it;
- clay soil is orange coloured, is very sticky when wet, has few air gaps and gets waterlogged easily;
- peat soil is mostly made from decayed plants, is dark and crumbly and is rich in nutrients (chemicals that plants need to grow).
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