Greenery can contribute to a happy space as it contributes to both our physical and mental well-being. Nonetheless, it will require some maintenance on your end for you to sustain a plant or even a garden. There are many approaches and products that can help. One of the simplest yet most effective methods is the addition of topsoil to your garden. There are many ways in which your garden will benefit from this step.
What is Top Soil?
Just as the name suggests, topsoil refers to the topmost layer of the soil. It typically comprises a thickness of anywhere from two to eight inches of the earth. By virtue of being on top, this layer comes into contact with a lot of things that are dropped on the ground including plants. It therefore highly concentrated with organic matter.
What are the Benefits of Top Soil?
High Nutrient Content
Topsoil is especially popular for its high nutrient content. There are plenty of items that get dropped on the ground and hence come into contact with the topsoil. While some may be harmful, there are plenty of healthy contents such as plant and animal waste. As these begin to decay, they are transformed into nutrients that are good for the soil by the microorganisms present in the soil.
Apart from its ability to produce nutrients, topsoil also has a great capacity to retain the nutrients that it comes into contact with. This includes nutrients like gas and water. This is especially due to the suitably porous nature of topsoil.
Promotes Better Plant Health
The wonderful characteristics of topsoil also make it suitable for promoting healthy plant life. This is as a result of the nutrients that it produces and retains which help to sustain the plants’ health. Critical nutrients that are necessary for plants to grow such as oxygen are able to reach the plants with ease. Apart from the nutrients, topsoil also prevents soil erosion, therefore, giving plants more to anchor themselves on and grow better.
Topsoil also gives plants the power of growing in almost any kind of climate, even desert-like areas. This is thanks to its ability to lock in moisture and prevent it from evaporating. This way, plants still get access to water needed for growth during dry seasons. As such, areas that face a deficiency in terms of topsoil experience difficulty when it comes to planting.
It Helps to Reduce Soil Erosion
The topsoil is very healthy as it contains the nutrients that are necessary to promote the growth of plants. This will, in turn, benefit the soil itself. This is because, with plants that are properly rooted into the soil, the soil cannot be easily eroded. Hence, the soil remains safe even there is a lot of wind and rain that could otherwise wash the nutritious topsoil away. This shows some form of an ecosystem where different component relies on each other for survival. With no topsoil, there would not be healthy plant growth and with no plants, the soil would get continually eroded.