- Title: Plant Life The Living Soil
- Date: 22nd October 1993
- Summary: SINCE PLANTS MOVED FROM THE SEA 450 MILLION YEARS AGO TO GAIN THEIR FIRST ROOTHOLD ON LAND, THEY HAVE INTERACTED WITH THE EARTH'S UNDERLYING ROCKS TO PRODUCE SOILS IN ALL THEIR VARIED FORMS. SOIL PROVIDES THE SUBSTRATA FOR THE EARTH'S LIVING SKIN AND ITS THE MATERIAL WHICH THE GARDENER MUST UNDERSTAND AND NURTURE IF PLANTS ARE TO BE GROWN SUCCESSFULLY. WITH STUDENTS AT MERRIST WOOD COLLEGE, SOIL SCIENTIST, DR MARKY LYNE EXPLAINS SOME OF THE MYSTERIES AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THIS DOWN TO EARTH MATERIAL. WE SEE HOW SOILS CHANGE WITH DEPTH, THE ROLE OF THE EARTHWORM AS NATURE'S DIGGER AND AERATOR HOW SOILS VARY IN COMPOSITION AND CAN BE DISTINGUISHED BY FEEL AND TEXTURE, HOW TO IMPROVE THEM WITH COMPOST, MANURES AND FERTILISERS AND THE PLANTS THAT GROW BEST ON ACID AND ALKALINE SOILS.
- Description:BOTANICAL MYSTERIES OF PLANT LIFE REVEALED.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Flashback Television Ltd.
- Programme Episode:Episode 1
- Transmission Date:22/10/1993
- Rights:On Request
- Decade: 1990s