1. Know and improve your soil | 40 mins
Improving soil structure
The best organic practice is to understand and work with the soil texture that we have available to us and focus on improving the soil structure. A good soil structure is vital as most of the biological life, which is essential for a healthy, nutrient rich soil, lives in the top 6 inches of the soil layer.
Soil structure refers to how soil particles stick together to form 'aggregates'. We would ideally like our soil to stick together into 'crumb size' aggregates rather than into large clods or fine sandy dust. The type of soil structure will point to the presence or absence of pores within and between the soil aggregates that perform a vital function in allowing the movement of air, water and nutrients, and therefore the ability to better support plant and biological life.
A good soil structure will allow roots to grow, hold a reservoir of nutrients, hold together well under cultivation, wind, and rainfall, and drain well yet also retain water in smaller pores.
Whilst we have to work with the type of soil texture we find in our growing spaces, improving the structure of our soil so that it is better suited to growing can thankfully be addressed with one simple best practice step, adding organic matter. 
Organic matter is derived from compost, broken down leaf litter, plant residues and animal manures and is a vital component for a healthy soil. It helps to improve soil structure on both sandy and clay soils, improves moisture retention, adds nutrients, and provides food for biological life in the soil. Generally, soils that are high in organic matter are visibly darker in colour, whereas soils that appear light grey are devoid of organic matter.
Fungi, bacteria, other microbes, and larger organisms all help to break down organic matter, releasing nutrients into a form that plants can take up. Earthworms help to mix up organic matter into the soil and create pores to help the passage of water and nutrients. Mycorrhizal fungi add to the root system extending its reach by an order of magnitude. Without biological life, a plant must work much harder to merely function.
Using home-made compost, leaf-mould and green manures is the very best way to improve all soil structures whilst adding beneficial nutrients and increasing the biodiversity of micro-organisms.