Soil health is an important aspect of landscaping. Soil is the platform or canvas on which the grand design of your landscape exists, and the inability to keep it healthy may lead to your plants dying no matter how hard you try to keep them alive.
A plant’s life is complex in terms of its sustainability, maintenance, and relative position in the environment. However, a plant’s survival depends as much on the soil it’s in as the plant itself. Soil requires natural fertilizers, composting solutions, pest management, soil biology restoration, top dressing, and a multitude of other services.
Hence, you should learn about not just your plants but also your soil, and there are many ways to care for it. In addition to doing your part as a responsible homeowner, you can turn to a landscape maintenance company to help you with soil maintenance tasks. The more you work with a landscape maintenance company to keep your soil healthy, the more you will understand that a two-way effort between you and the company is needed to get the job done right.
Soil Health Maintenance
In maintaining the general condition of your soil, simple things like reducing foot traffic or vehicle movement on your land will make a big difference as they prevent soil compaction. Soil may be loosened with a pitchfork or tiller, but consider adding organic matter to it first before resorting to this method.
This is where a landscape maintenance company can come in. An expert can point out the active and unseen microorganisms in your soil to help enliven your plants. They can also determine how to supply the necessary nutrients to keep soil loose, moist, and conducive for plant growth.
Here’s how a soil specialist can help you. Soil pH is a term that a lot of people don’t know about, but you should be familiar with it if you care about your soil’s health. It refers to the measurement of the soil’s acidity and alkalinity.
Plants require a given number of micronutrients, each of which becomes more or less abundant depending on the soil’s pH level. This is a key factor in the health of your plants. A good landscape maintenance company should be able to assist you with this matter.
Proper Fertilization
Land owners or custodians sometimes only rely on Mother Nature to fertilize their soil, but this could be a mistake if you want to prepare your soil for landscaping.
Likewise, it may also be a mistake to buy and apply fertilizer yourself because you could end up getting the wrong fertilizer without realizing it. People can apply too much or too little fertilizer at the inappropriate time, making soil conditions worse instead of better.
You can ask your landscape maintenance company to help you determine the exact needs of your soil. Some landscape companies can even supply you with the proper fertilizer.
Composting
If you have enough knowledge and the right resources, composting can be a do-it-yourself task. It is all a matter of handling organic matter and allowing it to nourish your soil. Simply recycling waste, grass, leaves, and other land leftovers will prove highly beneficial as the resulting compost will promote microbes in the soil, which in turn will help with the growth of your plants.
Talk with your neighbors about the best practices to follow, or ask your landscape company of choice to guide you through the entire process of composting.
