If you are concerned about the good health of your plants then soil amendment is one process that you should seriously consider. Compost is one of the most used and easy to use amendments that we have today and what soil amendment actually means is the mixture of soil and compost which helps in boosting the nutrient content of every soil, boosting microbes that are beneficial to the soil, enhancing aeration, retaining water and so much more. You can make this yourself without spending much and allow us show you how to use compost as soil amendment in your garden.
Interesting Read – Are Fireflies Beneficial To Gardens
Why Make Use Of Compost Of Soil Amendment
The reason why we said compost is a cost saving process is it only requires making use of old and non-useful household items like kitchen and waste scraps. Mixing your soil with a compost is what we consider as a win win process and amending your soil using compost has a lot of benefits. It is also a natural way any gardener can use in boosting the health of the soil but you should also be cautious because making use of too much compost can be a problem as well especially around certain plants.
Trendy Post – Plant Defoliation – Dealing With Defoliated Plants In Your Garden
As a gardener, you should try to know the correct ratio of compost that should be added to any soil so you can also reap the benefit of soil amendment in your garden and another benefit that comes with mixing soil and compost is it makes sure that every plant is provided with all the nutrient that it requires today as well as making sure the soil stays enhanced for years. The amendment of the soil naturally breaks down therefore releasing micro and macro nutrient as well as making sure that biological organisms in the soil are fed as well.
Mixing soil with compost is also another way of conserving moisture as well as boosting the porosity of the soil. We have other types of soil amendments today but after close observation, we realized that they only have few benefits or advantages to offer. However, compost brings about a lot of benefit and some of such benefits includes increasing the number of beneficial organisms in the soil as well as boosting the health of any soil. After telling you much about soil amendment, you must be asking how to use compost as soil amendment.
How To Use Compost As Soil Amendment
One thing that you need to make sure first is that your compost doesn’t contain weed seeds but it is well rotted. However, some expert views tells you not to mix compost with soils but for you to spread it over the soil. This is as a result of the disturbance digging up the soil would cause mycorrhizal fungi which is a very important fungi that helps plants to get nutrients deep down the earth. In the case of sandy and clay soils, mixing soil with compost makes sure the soil is enhanced well enough to cause such disruption.
Spreading the compost over the surface of the soil is a welcomed and preferred idea if the texture of your soil is good enough. With time, worms, rain and other natural actions would help wash the compost deep into the root of plants and if you make your own potting soil then you should mix one part of compost with one part each of top soil, perlite and peat. Not more than three inches should be used when mixing soil and compost for use in your garden but in the case of ornamental plants, they tend to need lesser than three inches.
Related Post – Toxic Garden Plants For Chickens
