Creating a Landscape Where Your Plants Thrive

Posted on July 16, 2017

Your landscape has an environment where plants thrive or suffer, depending on how it is created and cared for. This article is to help you create an environment on your property where plants thrive abundantly.

You've heard the saying, “what you put in you will get out” . Zig Zigler tells a story of two farmers driving in Alabama on a hot day in August. They both agree it's too hot and they are thirsty. So, they stop by a hand water pump behind a farm house and begin pumping. After pumping for several minutes, they realize they need to go to stream and bring a little water to prime the pump. They almost gave up thinking that there was no water left in that well, but finally after much effort and a little priming the water began and they got as much water as they needed.

Our landscapes are a lot like that well, if given the right input they'll produce abundantly fruit, flowers, fragrance, privacy and beauty.

There is input from above the soil and input from inside the soil. Let's briefly take a look at these inputs.

The input into your plants coming from above the soil effects plants leaves and roots. It includes light, water, air, nutrients, and pollution. These inputs are the reason it is critical to “plant the right plant in the right place”. Sun, shade, or partial sun create a different environment needed by different plants. All plants need nutrients, water and air. These environmental elements are usually available to some degree and will in some ways determine how plants respond to their environment. Pollution comes in the form of industrial, automotive, chemical, insects, and disease. It is best to remove as much of these pollutants from our environment as possible. If there are know pollution problems in your landscape then you'll only want to plant varieties that will tolerate the existing pollution.

The input from the soil effects plants roots. Within the soil there is a subterranean environment. Many times this environment creates a “dead” or “living “ soil. Most of the time your soil can be improved to become more living over time. Living soil is composed of soil, organic matter, insects, good bacteria, good fungus and plant life. Unless there are chemical contaminants in your soil, the best way to develop living soil is by adding organic material in the form of good, well decomposed compost. Compost has a positive effect on the life in the soil. It feeds the microbial activity which will improve the soil nutrients and texture making more water, air, and nutrients available to plant roots.

In order to create a healthy landscape, like the farmers water pump, we need to input hard work into a healthy environment. Please contact us if we can help you make a plan to accomplish this in your landscape.