The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
What most people think of as soil exists only near the ground surface and has terrible engineering properties: whatever gets built on top settles unevenly and rain ingress can lead to swelling and erosion. So all the organic stuff containing the worms and dead leaves tends to be excavated, leaving firmer soil below to build structures on.
However, over time, concrete cracks, which reconnects the soil to the surface and atmosphere, and the weathering forces that are partly responsible for soil creation in the first place. Trees also extend their roots under the concrete/hard surfacing, causing further cracking but also sub-surface connections to the surface. Underground services, such as drainage pipework also crack and break, further enhancing the influence of air and water.
. So concrete is death unless you can break it up with an earthquake or something and start over again.We bought a vineyard in the south of France that had been subjected to about 30 years of “modern agriculture” involving heavy equipment and some pretty nasty chemicals. The soil was dead, concrete hard with no insects nor birds living there. We quit spraying the nasties and encouraged the natural weeds to grow.
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