“Trees don’t live in the dirt. They live with the dirt”

Though your naked eye sees plain old dirt, just a handful of the soil in your yard or that makes up your property contains millions, if not billions of microorganisms. Dwelling with the microorganisms, which cannot be seen with the naked eye are the more noticeable macroorganisms such as the earthworms, beetles and millipedes so commonly found in soils. The microorganisms coexist together with macroorganisms and are essential for the vitality and health of a yard and the plants and trees that live in it.

Healthy soils need to have organic matter available to process so that nutrition is available for your trees and plants. In a typical forest environment, up to 80% of the nutrients received by the trees and plants that live there, are from their very own leaf litter. Normally, in a natural environment the A hemisphere (the layer of leaf litter and other natural organic matter) covers the B hemisphere (the “plain brown dirt”). All the organisms within it tend to hang out at the A/B border seeking to feed or process the organic material naturally present there. However, in the urban, suburban and rural yards and gardens, that leaf litter can be in short supply due to our cultural norm of considering a yard well kept when the leaves are raked or blown and other organic matter is disposed of in kind. If organisms can’t find the matter they need, because of a “clean” yard, they will migrate to richer soils and leave your property.

A combination of preserving some of the leaves or organic matter that falls in your yard and putting it in your flower beds and topping flower beds and open dirt spaces with untreated wood chips is the best way to recreate a rich A hemisphere environment while preserving the beauty of your yard both visually and nutritionally. If leaves feel to unsightly, you can support your yard’s health by adding a layer of wood chips, about 3 ½ inches deep to your flower beds and open dirt spaces. Keep in mind that redwood bark, though in fashion, is not a wood chip product and does not add nutrition to the soil. Alan Quality Tree Care and other tree services have wood chips available on a regular basis. Inquire with your local tree company today and add some health to your yard and the world we live in.

Alan Hannum is an ISA Certified Arborist since 2000. He is the owner of Alan Quality Tree Care, a tree service which offers a variety of professional tree related services in the Santa Rosa area. He is passionate about trees and tree health and developed this blog to help the community know how to best care for their trees. Learn more at aqtreecare.com or contact Alan Quality Tree Care at 707-322-6069.