Groundskeeping is an essential part of keeping a garden or lawn healthy. To ensure that plants and soil organisms thrive, it is important to invest time in improving the soil quality. There are several techniques that can be used to achieve this, such as adding organic matter, fertilizer, and limestone. Sulfur can also be used as a natural fungicide, while nitrogen is necessary for providing plants with the nutrients they need.
Additionally, livestock manure and gypsum can be added to the soil to improve its quality. Organic matter is an excellent way to enhance soil quality. This includes kitchen scraps, leaves, wood, manure, grass clippings, and other carbon-containing materials. It is important to note that double digging can be detrimental to the soil in the long term, so it should only be used in large farms where managing the soil by hand would not be practical. When planting potatoes in a garden that requires a pH of 5.5, spraying 2 tablespoons of sulfur in the cellar can help act as an acidifier and fungicide. Cover it with some soil and place the tuber in the hole before covering it with more soil.
Adding a thin layer of good garden soil on top of the organic material and fertilizer will provide the microorganisms needed to break down and decompose the organic layer. Fertilizer and limestone help microorganisms and improve the nutritional quality of the final composted product. Limestone is calcium carbonate and tends to make soils more basic, which is useful in humid regions where leaching tends to keep soils acidic. Gypsum should only be added when trying to recover sodium soil (a soil with excess sodium) that has been verified by a laboratory test. Finally, a rotary tiller is an ideal tool for incorporating soil amendments and organic matter in orchards and shrub beds. Over several months, these ingredients break down and become the perfect amendment for the lawn or garden, with nutrients and billions of beneficial microorganisms that act as soil workers in a symbiotic way to help plants thrive as nature intended.
