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Choosing the right compost soil can mean the difference between success and mediocrity for your spring gardening.
The benefits of a compost soil blend created specifically for our climate and native soils range from healthier plants and higher yields to disease resistance and reduced water needs. So how do you go about finding the best compost and garden soil products for your garden?
Compost is essentially a blend of decomposed organic matter. Soil (or dirt, as we like to call it) is primarily inorganic matter, which includes tiny particles of rock, minerals and sand.
When you blend compost into dirt, you create what most of us know as rich soil. Compost contains carbon and nitrogen compounds as well as beneficial fungus and bacteria. When you combine these elements, you create a complex ecosystem that not only supports plant life but also encourages healthy, robust growth.
We normally think of soil as a naturally occurring material. Compost, on the other hand, is something we purposefully blend to achieve the right balance for growth. Nature does contribute its own compost to the soil, in the form of fallen leaves, grass clippings and other plant materials that decompose over time. However, this is rarely sufficient to sustain healthy plant life.
In Utah, our native soils are poor platforms for growing healthy plants. If you dig holes in your back yard and, without adding anything to the dirt, plant fruits, vegetables or flowers, you would have to work very hard to keep them healthy.
If you add soil amendments – compost, fertilizer and minerals – you provide all the nutrients the plants need. You also create a favorable environment for drainage, which is necessary for healthy growth and the development of flowers and edibles.
This is made possible by the lifeforms found in compost. Fungus, bacteria, earthworms and more work to create a vibrant environment for the plants’ roots. Not only can compost soil provide the plants everything they need to grow, but it also helps them resist pests and disease. And, as healthy plants in good soil need much less water, it will help you will conserve our precious water supply too.
If you have the time and resources, you can make your own compost. However, this takes effort and careful planning and you’ll be hard-pressed to have any usable compost in time for planting your spring garden.
You can go to the “big box” home store and buy compost in a bag, but this isn’t a perfect solution either. It’s impossible to know where the compost was made or what went into the mix. And, sitting in a plastic bag for weeks or months, it’s likely that any beneficial life the mix once contained has died.
At The Dirt Bag, our Organic Mountain Compost is blended specifically for improving our local soils. Made with all premium, organic materials – including alfalfa, straw, steer manure, black peat and forest hummus – it helps stabilize soil nutrients and reduces the need for fertilizers, pesticides and water.
For the convenience of our customers, we offer our exclusive Garden Soil Plus delivered to your door in heavy-duty one-cubic-yard bags. This rich, dark compost soil is 100 percent organic and contains no chemical fertilizers or additives. When you choose Garden Soil Plus – blended specifically for use in Northern Utah – you won’t have to mess with mixing and blending your own.
And we deliver as much as you want – even a single cubic-yard bag – to the location you choose.
The Dirt Bag also offers a wide variety of topsoil, mulch, play sand and more. Located in West Jordan, Utah, we offer delivery throughout the Salt Lake City area. Just one call is all it takes to have Utah’s finest compost soil delivered right to your door.
