Good quality soil helps promote lush, healthy lawns and gardens. If you notice yellowing grass, dead patches, stunted growth, or unhealthy ground cover, your soil quality needs improvement. Hire a landscaping company to address these problems and improve the quality of soil in your lawns. Here are four soil care tips for lawns and gardens:
Proper soil care is essential for maintaining a healthy lawn and thriving garden. By selecting the right plants and using quality soil amendments, you can significantly improve the growth and vitality of your outdoor spaces. For those looking to enhance their garden with the best resources and expert advice, you can try this out to find a wide selection of gardening tools, plants, and tips that will support your efforts.
1. Test Your Soil
When you notice signs of poor soil quality, schedule an evaluation from an experienced landscaper. Professional soil analysis helps to reveal what’s lacking or in excess in your lawns and gardens. Experienced landscaping companies offer help with soil pH and nutrient level analyses and know how to improve poor soil quality. Common solutions include applying fertilizer, aeration, weed control, and adding soil amendments like compost.
Lawn care experts may suggest slightly acidic pH levels with adequate levels of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. The pH is also adjusted depending on the season because cold-season grass and plants require slightly higher pH levels. Use soil testing kits but stick to an experienced landscaper for custom solutions based on your goals. Improving soil quality requires regular testing and changes until you achieve the desired results.
2. Aerate Compact Lawns and Gardens
Dense compact soil and thick grass prevent air and nutrients from penetrating the soil. Compaction also leads to the formation of thatch, preventing the roots of your grass and garden plants from reaching water. Reversing soil compaction caused by foot traffic, heavy machinery, or lack of compost results in better soil quality for your lawns. One way to reduce compaction is through soil aeration, watering, and adding compost.
Aerating your lawns allows water, air, and nutrients to travel deeper into the soil while loosening the ground for your plant’s roots. Landscapers use various techniques to puncture the ground and improve air circulation. The process involves garden forks and special spike or core lawn aerators. Schedule regular lawn aeration until your beds achieve the consistency required to support watering, fertilization, and nutrient absorption.
3. Add Compost and Organic Matter
Organic matter attracts beneficial worms, insects, and organisms that break down compost into soil nutrients. Adding organic matter also balances soil pH, prevents compaction, and keeps nutrients from being eroded. Make compost from organic matter by recycling organic kitchen waste or purchase pre-made compost from your landscaper. You can also use leaf mold, peat moss, shredded leaves, animal manure, and clippings from mowing sessions.
Landscapers test the level of organic matter using cation exchange capacity (CEC) figures to determine when to incorporate more compost. The characteristics of organic matter differ, so mushroom compost, aged animal manure, peat moss, and wood chips don’t have the same results. Some organic matter is acidic, alkaline, or retains moisture and nitrogen. Work with an experienced landscaper to determine the right product to add to your soil.
4. Cover Your Lawns With Mulch
Keeping your lawns and garden beds covered is one way to improve soil quality because it helps to retain moisture. Covering the ground with mulch also provides shelter for beneficial organisms that help to convert compost into nutrients. Landscapers use mulches of freshly chipped trees, shrubs, and leaf mold as well as commercial mulch.
Mulch serves many purposes, from temperature and weed control to adding nutrients to the soil. The mulch also acts as a barrier against wind and sunlight, while preventing your gardens from drying. Use a combination of organic and inorganic mulch. Organic mulch like shredded leaves and grass clippings help to feed the soil when they decompose. Inorganic mulch locks in moisture while preventing weed growth.
Contact an Experienced Landscaping Company
Improving soil quality requires professional landscapers and arborists who can determine what to incorporate based on your needs. Landscapers provide comprehensive soil tests, weed and pest control, aeration and overseeding, fertilization, and other services to enhance lawn appearance. Speak to an experienced landscaping company today to find out more about soil care tips for your lawn and garden.