Home & Garden
Gardening... A handful of garden soil looks lifeless apart from the occasional earthworm, woodlouse, or beetle. Yet, you could not be more mistaken. An incredible 15 tons of soil passes through the gut of an earthworm each year. At a microscopic level, soil is home to staggering populations of microscopic organisms. A tablespoon of garden earth, for example, contains more bacteria than there are people on Earth. These bacteria have important functions, breaking down dead plant and animal matter to release most of the 14 nutrients plants require from soil. My career in horticulture, soil science and botanic garden management has taught me first-hand the
importance of healthy ground. The characteristics of soil governs the health and vigour of plants, the productivity of flower and vegetable plots and the distribution of native plants. While so much depends upon the soil, it is interesting that we seldom pay it attention. To get the best from your garden it is important to determine what type of soil you have. In reality, few people investigate their soil’s many characteristics beyond assuming whether it is acidic or alkaline. Yet, doing so can help you decide what to grow, decide on the best type of fertilizers to use and save money on applying fertilizers with no knowledge of whether they are needed or not. Two specialist flower
with botanist Dr Dave Aplin exhibitors I know inadvertently made their soil toxic through annually overfeeding their plants. This resulted in them having to root out their precious plants and grow a lawn to help the soil recover. The desire to combine my experiences and provide a service for gardeners has led me to establish soilvalues.com, a bespoke soil testing service that delivers high-quality and reliable analysis for amateur and professional gardeners alike. Most soil testing companies target large commercial projects and contaminated land issues, leaving the rest of us less well-served. Our service looks at the concentrations of soil
nutrients, the degree of soil acidity, the retention of soil water and the proportion of sand, silt and clay in your soil. These all have an impact on plant nutrient availability. It can become complex, but crucially my other motivation to form this company is to give people easy to understand results, demystifying the complexity of the findings and providing practical advice rather than technical jargon. For more information, take a look at the website, soilvalues.com, and the three levels of soil testing offered. For BMV readers we are offering a 10% discount on all services until 31st December 2020. Just enter the promotion code: BMV at the online checkout.
Garden centres are exempt from the new restrictions therefore we will remain open as usual!
• Bare root and rootball hedging now in stock • New season's roses, trees and soft fruit coming soon • Home delivery service still available We ask that all our customers adhere to social distancing and face covering rules, and follow directions on site. Milton on Stour, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5QA 01747 824015 Monday to Saturday 9am to 5.30pm Sunday 10am to 4pm 32
