Here’s the background information from my blog post earlier this year. You can see the full piece here. Read the method and rationale then see the results of my challenge below.

Officials are encouraging people to “soil their undies”—but the suggestion is not as unseemly as it sounds. To help gauge the health of local soils, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends planting a pair of fresh cotton underpants 3 inches deep in the ground. Wait at least 60 days, then dig them up.

Healthy soil contains billions of microbes that will break down organic material like cotton, so the more holes-filled and threadbare your unearthed undies, the heartier your soil. And the heartier your soil, the bigger the role it can play in producing nutritious plants, reducing erosion and storing carbon. Source: The Nature Conservancy Magazine

Here’s the how-to:

1. Plant a pair of new, cotton underwear horizontally about 3 inches deep in the site you're curious about. Don't forget to mark the spot you planted!

2. Wait at least 60 days. This gives your soil microbes time to do their magic! Then dig the undies back up.

3. Share your results by sending us a photo of your "harvest" and a little info about your operation to orinfo@usda.gov

My Soil Your Undies Challenge

This is how I started my Soil Your Undies Challenge—a little boy’s pair of 100% cotton briefs. I removed the elastic waistband but left the leg bands in place. On May 30, I buried the undies three inches deep and marked the spot with a large rock. A butternut squash plant covered the area all summer.

Then it was time to prepare the bed for cool season crops so on October 8 I removed the marker rock and excavated for the briefs.

This is what I found. The little chunk of brief had worked to the surface but otherwise, only the narrow elastic band around the leg openings survived. I dug around the soil and could find no other evidence of the brief. The soil microbes took care of all that cotton, suggesting my soil is pretty darn good.

See the results of others who took the challenge here. Consider taking the challenge in your garden or farm.