A well balanced healthy soil will make all the difference to how your garden plants grow and flourish. There are few gardeners who can say that they have the ideal or perfect soil. For most of us it is too stony, sandy, clay based, acidic or alkaline. Once you understand what a healthy soil consists of, you realise what is needed to turn your soil into a plant-friendly medium. Soil is composed of rock particles, chemical compounds, animal and vegetable matter as well as living organisms feeding and breaking down this organic matter. It is these living organisms constantly at work, breaking down the various materials in the soil, which make macro and micro-nutrients available to the plant root systems. Worms, small animals, insects and microbes will only thrive once soil elements are balanced.