Landscaping and the soil, what role can vermicast play in landscaping.

The process of landscaping and earth moving disrupts and displaces microbes and organisms in soil.
Soil most often consists of strata, layers of different materials, organic and mineral or combinations of the two in varying quantities.
Different organisms and microbes can be found in these different zones as each gravitate towards the conditions that best suit their needs.

So what happens when you disrupt this environment?
Earthmoving often displaces the organic layer on the top of our soil and pulls up the sandy mineral rich sub layer, often turning it over and creating a sandy surface layer.

So what is wrong with this you might ask?

Sand and minerals are wonderful for plants, they contain trace elements and are crucial to healthy plant growth.
The problem that exists with both mineral and organic material is that both exist as potential energy.
It is the action of soil bourne organisms and microbes on them that facilitate the release of all their plant beneficial nutrient into a plant available format.

So is their no microbial activity in landscaped soil?
There are still microbes in landscaped soil, but the aggressive process of earthmoving often displaces microbes and organisms from the environments they like or disrupts the soils natural balances.
What we want is to condition the soil as quickly as possible, returning those natural balances before soil erosion can set in.
Be it the use of plants, grasses, trees or shrubs, roots are natures soil stabilisers.

So how do we condition soil?
Optigrow recommends the generous addition of compost to reintroduce organic material into the soil and the addition of Opticast to convert both compost and mineral sand from their potential energy forms into a healthy living soil.

How is this achieved you might ask?
Vermicast is a thick dark rich organic fertiliser and soil conditioner.
It contains all the things your landscaped soil needs to begin its rehabilitation process.

Firstly vermicast is a fertiliser, so it contains plant available nutrient to sustain your newly planted vegetation.

Secondly vermicast is extremely high in microbial activity, so it repopulates low or absent microbial cultures. Microbes play a crucial role in plant health as they assist plants with the uptake of nutrient, and breaks down available minerals in soil.

Thirdly Opticast contains baby earthworms and earthworm cocoons. With the addition of organic material, these wriggly workers continue to break the organic material in soil down and maintain the soils health.

Finally, the physical properties of vermicast works to stabilise soil. It acts to bind the soil and stabilises moisture.

Soil health is important in landscaping, planting into barren soil may lead to the loss of some of the soil stabilising plants planted, giving way to hardier unwanted weeds that can withstand the environment.
Vermicast works to rehabilitate soil from the start into the natural living biome that plants thrive best in, giving plants a healthy, strong start and supporting them ongoingly as they flourish.

Optigrow Opticast, a key part of your landscaping and soil regeneration project.