5 Soil Care Mistakes To Avoid In Your Yard

If you want your home to feature gorgeous landscaping, healthy soil is a necessity. Unfortunately, many homeowners expect their landscaper's skill to be able to make up for neglected soil care.  

In reality, your landscaping will never look good for long if you don't put effort and research into keeping your soil in good condition. Soil needs to nourish landscaping features in your yard to prevent plant life from quickly losing its vitality.

The following are five common soil care mistakes that you should be aware of and avoid to improve the condition of your soil:

Using synthetic materials for fertilizer

Organic fertilizer is more effective than synthetic fertilizer at creating optimal conditions for plant health and growth.

Natural soil should be full of many different organic components such as fungi, worms, and microscopic organisms. Synthetic fertilizer might obstruct the life cycles of these organisms or cause pH problems in you soil. 

Handling soil care tasks when the ground is wet

If you do garden or lawn care work in your yard when the ground is wet, you could end up with a muddy mess of dug up portions of yard. 

When it comes to maintaining soil health, successfully separating different layers of the soil like the topsoil and the subsoil is important. If these layers get mixed together, it can be more difficult for plants growing in your yard to get the nutrients that they need.

Using herbicides and pesticides excessively

Excessive herbicide and pesticide use can cause a variety of different problems. First of all, it can result in resistant pests that are increasingly less affected by herbicide and pesticide applications. Also, these substances can eventually begin killing the plants that you want to grow in your yard if you continuously apply more. 

Another issue that can come up if you're relying heavily on herbicides and pesticides is that the pH of your soil can become thrown off. Soil pH has a huge impact on the ability of plants to absorb nutrients. Herbicides and pesticides are often acidic, and many plant species will have trouble flourishing in an overly acidic soil. 

Not mulching

Occasionally applying mulch to your garden and yard area is important to ensure that moisture is able to evaporate properly. Mulch also puts important nutrients into the soil as it gradually decomposes. 

Putting down topsoil that's brought in from another area

The best topsoil for your garden and yard is native topsoil. Native topsoil will be best able to nourish your grass and other natural, native plant species growing in your yard. If you're looking for a source of native topsoil, consult your area nurseries. 

To learn more, contact a landscaping company like Weiler's Lawn & Landscape


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