RainScaping #1

SOIL

​​Assess Your Soil with this field test 

GUIDE

Do you have poorly draining soil?

Summer. This ground is clay. There is no moisture nor <organic> matter that will absorb any rainwater. Nothing can get IN. Only deeply rooted hardy weeds will grow.... sparsely.

Winter. The ground is still clay. The water may slowly soak in over the winter and will turn this area into muck. The only hope for improvement is if some sticks get into the ground and make "space".  Most will float away.

In order to have healthy and flourishing plants in your landscape, you need to have soils that hold and drain water.  You want moisture to be retained to help plants thrive, but not too much water where plants will rot! Here's how to get a healthy balance.

REMEMBER that arborist chips can sometimes come with invasive plants. So, make sure that you also
READ THIS BLOG
so you get the best, cleanest FREE arborist chips ever!  

Wood-chip mulch.

Rain is heavy, and when wood chips get soaked, they are even heavier. 

When about a foot or so of arborist chips are put on top of wet ground, the rain soaked wood chips will be absorbed into the ground in the "mucky" winter landscape. 

After a year or two, the wood chips have mostly decomposed and turned into chunky soil that has space for roots to spread and stabilize plants. This soil has low nitrogen because of the decomposing process.​

Continue adding wood chips to the area for a couple of years. This helps build up the area and mitigate the stormwater runoff that sits in your yard.  Add compost or aged manure between the layers of wood chips for a few rounds.  This creates nutrient-rich soil and the balance that you're looking for!

You are developing a healthy soil base that will hold moisture IN the ground, and release it slowly to plants as they grow.