Every plant draws on the soil and, dying back, returns the mineral elements used together with the vegetable matter created from sun and moisture. We only consume a small part of the plant, be it seed, shoot or fruit, and can marvel at the green volumes piled into the compost heap at the end of the season; what is taken off the surface finds its parallel in the root systems left behind.
Our understanding of roots and soil organisms is still partial, though one group of plants whose effects we know a little of are the legumes – the most valuable agents in the creation of a living soil, and essential ...
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