YOU'RE GONNA LOSE THAT SOIL

(Music: YOU'RE GONNA LOSE THAT GIRL, Lennon-McCartney) (info./disclaimers) (glossary) (index) (gardening guide)

You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)
You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)

If you don't lay each bed out right
You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)
Across the slope, top surface flat
Or it'll flow downhill (yes, yes, it's gonna flow downhill)

You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)
You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)

If you don't keep the surface covered
You're gonna have troubles (yes, yes, you're gonna have troubles)
Mulch it or keep it cover-cropped
Where there aren't vegetables (where there aren't vegetables)

You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)
You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)
You're gonna lose (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)

Water gently, don't create a flood (create a flood), yeah
Or garden paths will be running thick with mud

(You're gonna lose that soil) 
(You're gonna lose that soil)

You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)
You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)
You're gonna lose (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)

Grow some windbreaks, so if there's a gust (if there's a gust), yeah
You won't be seeing swirling clouds of dust

If you don't add organic matter
You will deplete it soon (you will deplete it soon)
Microbes like compost and green manures
Worms sing a happy tune (worms sing a happy tune)

You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)
You're gonna lose that soil (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)
You're gonna lose (yes, yes, you're gonna lose that soil)

Comments: Creating beds on a contour reduces erosion. "Green manures" are cover-crops or other plants incorporated back into the soil.
Despite the cheerful optimism and charm that inspire such mania among their fans, the Beetless are sober realists, as they demonstrate in this cautionary number.

 
Excerpted from The Beetless' Gardening Book: An Organic Gardening Songbook/Guidebook, copyright 1997 by Chris Roth (info./disclaimers) (glossary) (index) (gardening guide)