Think Gardens Like This Only Exist on Pinterest???
Not So! The simple, not so secret, secret ingredient behind robust gardens is COMPOST!
And don’t worry—if you don’t make your own compost, you can buy Premium STA Certified Compost at your local Garden Center.
Adding compost to soil provides the following benefits:
- Increases the organic matter content of your soil
- Improves soil structure allowing for both better percolation and moisture retention.
- Adds organic nutrients
- Stabilizes pH
- Improves disease resistance
- Supplies beneficial microorganisms, bacteria and fungi
- Increases soil’s cation exchange capacity, helping the plant to absorb more nutrients from the soil
As a reminder to apply compost to improve the health of soil and the plants it grows, The US Composting Council has developed the “Strive for 5” Campaign.
Most native soils contain between 1-3% organic matter, which is too low to grow!
Increasing SOM (Soil Organic Matter) to 5% or higher provides the benefits outlined above, and creates the ideal conditions to grow beautiful and healthy lawns, turf, flowers and vegetables. And to top it off—applying just 2” of compost in lieu of the traditional 6” of topsoil can reduce project material cost by up to 2/3! Now you know why it is referred to as “Black Gold”.
To celebrate the beginning of International Compost Awareness Week, (ICAW), here is a cool video featuring Joe Lamp’l, host of Growing a Greener World, discussing the benefits of using compost in your yard.
Need Help? Have questions? Have photos of you compost projects? Contact Us!
