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Great garden soil provides not only the support to hold up your plants but it also provides essential nutrients, moisture and oxygen.
All of these elements are crucial for healthy plants, trees and shrubs. But, unless the texture of the dirt allows for adequate drainage, your plants may be denied some or all of these key elements.
Let’s take a look at why drainage is important and how you can ensure that your garden soil is doing all it can for your landscape and garden.
When you water your garden or landscape, or when it rains, moisture soaks into the soil and down to the roots of the plant. Well, in a perfect world that’s how it works.
If your soil is particularly poor (as is the case throughout Northern Utah), it may lack the ability to drain properly. This can prevent the water from penetrating the dirt to reach the roots of the plant. Instead, the water either runs off or evaporates. What moisture does succeed in penetrating through the dirt has nowhere to go. Consequently, it can sit on the plant’s roots for too long and cause harmful mold growth or root rot.
Your plants also require a health level of oxygen to circulate around the underground roots. Without oxygen, the plant’s growth can become stunted and, eventually, choked out.
Imagine if you were denied precious oxygen!
As you can see, drainage is of critical importance for your garden soil. If yours is lacking in this area, you can purchase some products to mix in, to help facilitate drainage and improve the health of your plants.
One of the most common additives to improve drainage is vermiculite, a lightweight mineral that helps hold water in the soil while allowing moisture and oxygen to move freely. Perlite is a type of volcanic glass that also holds water in the soil, much like vermiculite, while increasing drainage and oxygen flow.
Some other, less common, soil amendments include peat moss and coconut coir. Both of these products also add nutrients to the dirt. You may also see a product called horticultural sand used for improving drainage, especially for palm trees. Don’t try to substitute play sand or construction sand for this product, however. Horticultural sand has been rinsed of damaging salts that are commonly found in sand.
Except for rare circumstances, you will find that Garden Soil Plus from The Dirt Bag already has everything you need to grow all of Utah’s most popular plants, shrubs, flowers and trees.
In addition to actual soil, this product contains black peat, compressed steer manure, sandy loam soil and perlite fines. Both the sandy loam soil and the perlite fines handle the necessary drainage component. The perlite fines retain water to keep precious moisture in the soil. The black peat also helps with drainage as well as enrichment.
And, because we will deliver this and many of our other products right to your door – packed in convenient, reusable one cubic yard bags – you’ll never have to mess with hauling messy dirt from the garden center or home warehouse again.
Based in West Jordan, Utah, The Dirt Bag is your go-to source for mulch, topsoil, rock and gravel and more. Many of our products are available for bagged deliver to your door. Contact us today to learn more, or to schedule your delivery of Garden Soil Plus.
