Soil is one of the top necessities in a huge variety of landscapes, serving as the foundation of any garden’s plant growth. The right soil and soil care can make the difference between healthy and gorgeous plant life and plants that struggle to survive and don’t look anywhere near as good, limiting the aesthetics and even property value of your landscape.

At Utah Landscaping Rock, we’re happy to offer landscaping topsoil as one of our numerous landscape supply services, which feature a huge range of decorative and functional rock varieties to fill all your needs. In addition, we’re happy to provide our clients with basic information on any of our soil types, including care recommendations to ensure your soil serves you well throughout the season. In this multi-part blog series, we’ll go over everything you need to know about properly caring for and maintaining healthy soil.

Soil Testing

One of the first steps to take if you’re highly concerned about soil quality and care is to test any new soil you purchase to be part of your landscape. There are a few different soil testing formats available – some you can purchase in a home improvement store, and others you have to order through professionals.

Soil test results will generally include several pieces of information that should matter to you. It will inform you of the soil’s texture, for one, plus the nutrients and organic matter it requires plus any fertilizer recommendations for the plants you’re thinking about growing in the soil.

Indicators of Healthy Soil

Both through testing and a few basic early care areas you’ll get into soon after purchasing the soil, there will be several indicators that it’s healthy and living in optimal conditions. These include:

• Stable pH, with a range of 6.5 to 6.8 in most cases
• Ideal soil structure based on needs
• Good level of organic matter present based on testing and observation
• Ability to hold and properly release nutrients to plants
• Soil life biodiversity

Adding Nutrients

Nutrients are vital to soil and plants alike, and organic matter is a major addition to strongly consider for any soil area. Organic matter is made up of living plant roots and organisms, plus decomposing residue and enzymes, helping plants access nutrients while plants feed the soil nutrients in return.

There are a huge variety of nutrients potentially offered by organic matter, from macronutrients like carbon and oxygen to micronutrients like iron, copper and others required in small quantities. In most cases, your soil test will tell you the sort of nutrients your soil requires, allowing you to make additions as needed.

For more on proper care and maintenance for your landscaping soil, or to learn about any of our landscape rocks or related services, speak to the staff at Utah Landscaping Rock today.