Soil Products: What to Use?
There are many different types of soil products you can use for your home gardening. Soil provides numerous benefits. It carries essential nutrients to plants, provides oxygen, insulates the roots, and stabilizes the plants. Soil acts as the foundation for your garden projects.
In this article, we’ll discuss the different types of soil products used by landscapers so that you known which one will work for your lawn or garden.
Screened Loam
Screened loam is often used for planting grass, shrubs, and trees. Screened loam is also used for laying sod. This type of soil comes from topsoil and is then screened to remove clay and other large debris.
Therefore, screened loam is ideal for gardens or lawns and has balanced proportions of soil, clay, sand, and silt. Screened loam is prepared using a screening plant with a small and tight screen to remove the debris mixed in the soil. When applying a screened loam in your yard, make sure that the soil has enough nutrients and the right PH balance. You can add fertilizer or a soil amendment to nourish the soil.
Screened loam is well priced and suitable for a variety of landscape projects. Whether you need a few cubic feet or a full truckload of soil, you can get it here at Ornamental Stone.
Garden Mix
A garden mix is usually the combination of compost, screened loam, and aged bark fines. This type of soil is used for planting flowers and growing vegetables. There are various types of garden mix gardeners use to nourish their garden so that it can sustain itself even during the hot summer season.
Ornamental Stone has its own customized garden mix on-site known as Woodlands Mix. This special garden mix is produced from a combination of organic compost, screened topsoil, black Alberta peat and composted bark fines. Woodlands Mix does not have any clay in it.
This product is a popular choice for gardeners who want to grow flower beds and do some container gardening. The great thing about this garden mix is you can plant in it directly. It’s simple, easy, and doesn’t need any other materials. For existing gardens, you can use soil enhancer instead.
Garden mixes are essential for home gardening as it helps retain the moisture in the soil. Therefore, it helps prepare the soil so that the plants and vegetables will grow better. Some plants and vegetables with roots find it difficult to grow if the soil has clay or debris in it. At the same time, it also makes it hard for the soil to retain moisture. Therefore, it is important to screen the soil and ensure that water can properly circulate in the soil.
Soil Amendment
Adding a soil amendment helps improve the cultivation and health of the plants. Soil amendment refers to any material added to the soil to improve its physical properties.
When it comes to soil amendments, Ornamental Stone has our own blended on site mix called Garden Party. This material is a combination of aged bark fines, Black Peat, and compost which is often used in breaking down clay or enriching the soil with nutrients. However, it can’t be used for direct planting since it does not have any soil component in it.
In Calgary, the soil is usually hard and contains large amounts of clay. This also means that the soil usually lacks nutrients. This is why a soil amendment like our Garden Party Soil Enhancer can help nourish the soil with the nutrients it needs.
Garden Party Soil Enhancer doesn’t have any chemicals and is also ideal for top dressing. You can also mix it with the existing soil before you plant it in. This mixture is best applied two inches above the garden or flower bed before blending it in.
Compost
Using compost in your gardening is essential and can help improve your soil by supplying it with nutrients. At the same time, it also increases water capacity and improves drainage. The organic matter in compost helps create better structure and improved oxygen circulation which are all essential for root growth.
There are many ways to compost a pile, you can do it in your backyard or indoors. When composting outdoors, pick a dry and shady area near a water source for your pile and add the materials. Make sure that the bigger pieces are chopped or shredded and keep the dry materials moist when adding it.
Once the compost is established, mix the grass and waste to the pile and bury the waste under 10 inches of compost material. You can also cover the compost with a tarp to retain moisture. You’ll know when your compost is ready to use when the material at the bottom area is dark and has a rich colour. This process can take up two months up to two years.
A more practical way of acquiring compost is to buy ready-made materials. Ornamental Stone stocks locally sourced mushroom compost which doesn’t have any animal byproducts.
For easy and hassle-free gardening, its best to understand the different types of soil, their uses and benefits to determine which type will fit your requirements. When it comes to finding landscape supplies in Calgary, make sure you do your research first to ensure that you get the right product. Visit Ornamental Stone and check out the variety of soil, mulch, and garden products as well as our soil and garden mix. Click the link for more information on soil delivery.