Is the health of our soils more important than we realize? The short answer to this question is an astounding YES!!! So many fertilizer companies, gardening youtube channels, lawn & garden tips and tricks, and any other platform for lawn and garden focuses so much on what is above the soil, that sometimes they've completely missed the point.
Pruning your vegetable plants and fruit trees, and watering your lawn at certain times of day, among many many other tips, are and can be important especially when you are starting out with lawn and/or garden care. But at the end of the day, your soil is what matters the most. If you have healthy soil, everything else will follow. On the reverse end of that, if your soil is not healthy, you'll be working harder than ever to try to fix something that just isn't going to be fixed until you've addressed your soil issue.
STORY TIME!!
Here is a story that relates to what I told you above. A fellow I know had been stressing about his lawn for the last two years. He had quite a bit of lawn around his home and at the sides of his house the lawn looked pretty good. But in his direct backyard, there were weeds that had started to crowd in over the years.
He wanted to kill his weeds off before using our product so grabbed a typical weed killer that would kill his weeds and not his grass. He sprayed the weeds and with a little bit extra decided to spray a patch of grass on the side of his house just to get any possible weeds from growing up.
The Next day, everywhere he had sprayed was completely dead. Everything from weed to grass. Everywhere he sprayed, and I mean everywhere. Even the so called "healthy looking grass" on the side of his house had died.
Why? Because his soil was not healthy. It's a sad woeful tale but comes down to true science. If your soil is not healthy even with patches above the ground that you'd think are healthy-- your plants will not be sustained for long.
How can I improve the Health of My Soil?
Soil Health can be improved a number of different ways but essentially in short it comes down to having soil microbes, or tiny beneficial bacteria.
These soil microbes can do a number of things such as help break down plant nutrients into forms plants can take them. For example, wanting to eat a banana. You purchase one your local grocery store, but you know better than to take a bite out of it as it is. You can't eat the banana until you've taken the peel off. It's a process of breaking down something you have to make it more available for consumption. Soil Microbes do the same thing.. in a sense they're "peeling the bananas" or making nutrients more plant available.
Now, microbes don't just refer to "bacteria" in the soil but any sort of microscopic organism, including beneficial fungi. One of our favorites is called "Mycorrhizae" (yes we know that's a mouthful! You pronounce it kind of like, "mai-kuh-rai-zee"). Mycorrhizae is amazing! It forms a beneficial relationship with plants as it attaches to their roots. The mycorrhizae gets nutrients from the plant, and in turn it gets into spaces where plant roots may be too large to get into (tiny cracks or between rocks, etc). The mycorrhizae then is able to get water and nutrients from these tiny places where the plant normally wouldn't be able to reach, and gives it back to the plant. Mycorrhizae is essential to soil health!
Photo Courtesy of Eco Farming Daily
These and many other soil microbes are what overall make or break the health of your soil.
How do I increase the amount Soil Microbes in my Soil?
Ah, we thought you'd never ask. Here at Retrosance, that's what we do. Our All Natural Fertilizing Products are the perfect Soil Conditioners. We have done the research on what exact microbes are found in healthy soil, and using our scientists we have created the perfect blends for all months of the growing season. Do plants need different things during the season? Yes, yes they do! Again, because most conventional fertilizers are focusing on what is happening above the ground they are giving you the same not-very-effective basic nutrients and charging you way more than what it is worth.
With Retrosance we will give you exactly what you need, when you need it throughout the growing season. Our soil inoculant blends will improve the health of your soil, give your plants the exact nutrients they need (without poisoning them with toxic chemical fertilizers), and your soil will prepare your plants against those hard days.
Subscribe today to learn more and see for yourself!