I don't know a lot about the subject but I will ramble until someone more knowledgeable comes along. If you feel you have the basic information then all you need is to break it down into sub-catagories plus you might consider some visuals. In the center, for height. use blocks of wood or concrete covered with wrapping paper or foil. On top of this put tall containers of the actual components of soil: one of water, one of sand and silt, one of air (it is after all an essential ingredient that the public needs to be aware of) and one of organic matter - pine bark and leaves. You might also want to explain how soil without the organic matter is useless. Then further explore how organic matter breaks down due to heat, moisture, bacteria and microbes to form humic acid which can be taken up by plant roots. Plants don't "eat" in the same sense as animals but if their basic needs are not met they will suffer and die. Touch on the fact that we know what these needs are and we can provide trace elements and micro-nutriments plus supplemental watering to cultivate healthy plants. If you can't find tall, clear containers then you can consider stapling ziploc bags to the display board.

Your display is OK. When I do a soils workshop, I have open containers of Compost, ground bark, peat and sand. I also have soil samples collected from different sites around the county. Everyone is invited to get their hands into the soils and rub them between their fingers. I ask them if they can tell by the feel if a sample is clay based or sand based and can they notice any vegetative matter in the samples? This requires a very careful mix to get the moisture content right. It is fun to do and some people just are not sure about putting their fingers into soil which may contain VISABLE BUGS. Al

I'm hoping for some suggestions to make it better than "okay." We already have samples. I just need word/image content. I'm going to have a diagram in the center similar to {{gwi:1042089}} but I still have a space of about 10 x 20 to fill--that's a lot of space. Maybe a diagram of how organic matter breaks down...?

Maybe an informal poll will gather some seeds of ideas for me:-
What do you think is the most interesting thing about soil? What bits of information do "the public" in your area find the most surprising or helpful?

I love hands on-so I"d love to see an observation stiration of a soil profile--dead leaves on top,then composted leaves, then humus, then soil with worms, beetles, etc, then some compacted clay or rocky layer, etc.

I've always found texture of soils interesting--you can have people do that hand ribbon soil test to see if they can describe if a soil is sandy, loamy or clayey.

Also love digging in a landscape, thinking that you realize that, 'oh, my soils are sandy based on this planting hole" then only to dig 10 feet away and you find all nice black humus, or bone dry sand,e tc.

I still know millions of people out there believe trees in particular have roots like a carrot. How about a diagram showing that plant roots travel horizontally and roots go where there is warmth, water and nutrients (in other words, the top 2-3 feet max of soil).

Do a temperature profile on soil. This can be a demonstration for mulches too! Note that sandy soils warm up and cool down very fast, whereas humsy soils slow and cool more slowly (this really comes into play around first and last frost times in your zone).

Finally, why not tell us what do worms, grubs, centipedes, etc really do? I smile when I see a worm when I dig a hole, since I'm now at ease that I'm putting the plant in a delicious area.

I did a display years ago using a wooden box one foot square with a clear plastic front. I filled one with a sandy soil and one with a clay soil. I mounted a one gallon plastic milk jug on top of each with a one gallon per hour dripper in the side close to the bottom. I filled each with colored water and let everyone see the difference in the soil penetration of water depending on the soil texture. Al

I still like the quart jar filled with soil and enough water to let the different componets level out when shaken up and allowed to settle. You might show this on your board with examples of good soil and poor soils. Sandy

Are there any soil scientists in your area? Their offices are usually in the NRCS (Natural Recource Conservation Service) buildings. My husband is a soil scientist and they always have interesting pamphlets and such, which are very helpful.

Just to fill up your large space I would consider green manures, compost ingredients, finished compost, different types of soil and products that can be used to amend soil to improve tilth and drainage like pine bark mini nuggets, perlite, sphagnum peat, natures helper, builders sand, polymers, lime, greensand, alfalfa pellets (rabbit food) this last can be found in Feed & Seed stores and is a good earthworm attractant.