Food into soil = Food out of soil

The story behind the garden soil could was so interesting to me once I started reading about it.  I always thought the roots of plants spread around and searched their nutrients out, but that's really not the whole story.  I think the root spread is more for water absorption than nutrition.  what transports nutrients to the plant are the tiny microscopic organisms, worms, and yucky creepy crawlies.  These travel around the soil, and during their life cycle, absorb nutrients, once they croak here and there, and around the roots, they deposit their nutrients.  Some of them attach themselves to the root, and feed the plant right there as a secondary benefit to themselves, as they extract what they need.  Of course this is  so simplified because that's all I've absorbed from my reading, but if this interests you, look into it.