You may think that your property’s landscape soil is only dirt.
You may think that your property’s landscape soil is only dirt. However, it’s more than that. Soil is inhabited by microorganisms that serve different roles in your garden. These microbes will grow and help protect your plants if you develop an excellent soil habitat with adequate nutrients, balanced pH, and sufficient organic matter. Let’s learn how to keep your landscape soil healthy.
Reasons for Healthy Soil
When your soil is healthy, your plants are healthy. But what does soil need to remain healthy? Plants receive their nutrients from the soil they grow in. To receive these nutrients, the soil requires organic matter, minerals, and added fertilizer to correct deficiencies. Healthy soil will also have a mix of nutrients, good drainage, proper pH, air movement, and water-holding ability. It would help to perform a soil test to find out the current state of your soil and what it may be lacking. This way, you can obtain insight into the amount of pH, organic matter, and the level of nutrients in your soil.
What Are the Signs of Unhealthy Soil?
- When you pull up a plant, you notice poor soil in hard clumps and stunted root growth.
- Rainfall or irrigation will collect on the soil surface during compaction, signaling poor drainage.
- Soil that is cracked or dry lacks water. Soils that remain wet for a long time may be grayish in color.
- Another sign of potentially unhealthy soil is not seeing any earthworms in the first foot of the soil.
- When you discover signs in your plants, such as poor growth, branch dieback, smaller leaves, and failure to respond to proper care, your soil lacks adequate health.
Tips on Enhancing Soil Quality
Healthy soil can give your home landscape plants more access to water, air, and nutrients. Therefore, building healthy soil is critical. Follow these tips for healthy soil:
- Cover the soil with mulch to increase organic matter, prevent erosion, moderate soil temperatures, retain soil moisture, and minimize weeds.
- Add organic matter to enhance soil’s physical properties, such as water and air availability, to promote healthy root growth and minimize soil compaction.
- Increase drainage and aeration for the long term by adding a biochar soil amendment.
Tree Care and Maintenance from Harford Tree
Ready to have the beautiful yard you have always dreamed of? Harford Tree Experts & Landscaping, Inc has been in the business for decades, providing customers with quality work and quick responses all at the right price. We service the areas of Harford County, Baltimore County, and Baltimore City areas including Bel Air, Fallston, Perry Hall, Towson, Essex, Parkville, White Marsh and Middle River.
For service during business hours, reach out to us or give us a call at 410-592-7321. We offer 24/7 emergency service as well, just give us a call at 443-250-6649. For updates about our business and more informative tips, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.