One of the most important components of soil is organic matter. It can balance out a lot of weaknesses of a certain type of soil, which is why compost is so precious for the gardener. Sandy soil, rocks or dense clay do not need to be reasons to give up on gardening. Almost any soil can be dramatically improved with compost. Other soil amendments can also help, especially peat moss and organic fertilizers. 

Composts tremendous effects: 

- compost improves aeration or the soil, allowing bad gases to get out and oxygen to get into the soil. This helps positive microorganisms and roots to live. This effect is especially helpful in clay, which has naturally a poor aeration. 

- compost improves water infiltration and retention. Compost  is spongy and holds water. Mixed into the soil, it keeps the soil surface porous so that water can easily penetrate the surface. Air pockets created by the compost can fill with water and also retain the water quite well. This is important in dense clay, where there is little porous space. In fact, in clay soil compost improves water holding capacity and, at the some time, improves drainage of excess water. In sandy soil, where water drains out very quickly, the porous structure of compost particles helps to retain water like a sponge. 

- compost activates soil live by improving many physical properties of the soil, such as the above mentioned aeration and water retention, and by providing food for soil organisms (soil organisms need food to live, such as leaf litter!)Sometimes it is freshly applied compost that is responsible for an inoculation of the soil with new, much needed micro-organisms.  

- compost also provides plant nutrients to the soil, especially those very rich composts made from manure or fishery byproducts.

How to use compost: Leaf compost is the most common available compost and best for general use. Compost should be worked into the top 4 to 8" layer of soil in generous amounts when a new planting bed is prepared. For established beds, mulching (= surface application) with compost or composted cow manure is efficient, and easiest to do in early spring or late fall, when fewer plants are in the way. Some gardeners use compost to fill the holes when digging up and transplanting perennials. 

Compost can help to suppress weeds, too. But it is not as efficient in this respect as barkmulch. Nevertheless, once a garden has been established for a year or two, and weeds are pretty much under control, then mulching should be done with compost instead of barkmulch (see "Barkmulch").

Barkmulch - less is more!

Barkmulch helps to protect the surface of the soil. It protects from the impact of rain, sun and wind, and thus helps to maintain a healthy soil structure up to the surface layers. Mulched soil (it can also be mulched with 

compost) has a much better water infiltration rate. Barkmulch is also very efficient in suppressing weeds, and in that respect better than compost.

But barkmulch can be a problem, too. Since it is very poor in nitrogen (C:N-ratio is very wide!), it can cause an imbalance in the soil. When microorganism decompose barkmulch, which they will always do, they will use up virtually all nitrogen available in the soil, and deprive plants of this important nutrient.

Barkmulch is big business in the landscaping industry. But excessive amounts of barkmulch are not what the customer would want, as can be observed very often on properties that have been under the pitiless rule of barkmulch-spreading landscape professionals: It is not uncommon to find barkmulch so thick that an average rainfall can not even reach the soil. One can imagine that in such cases, the oxygen-supply would also be extremely low, and of course plants suffer from nitrogen deficiency.

Therefore, we recommend to use barkmulch sparingly. An application (1 - 2 inch thick) after a new bed has been established is very useful. After a few years, when the first flush of weeds has been suppressed and not so many seeds are left to germinate, it is better to mulch with compost. Mulch can only be part of a strategie to supress weeds - hand weeding or outgrowing weeds with dense, tall groundcovers are further approaches.

A good soil is alive! It is packed with microorganisms and with not so microscopic organisms of all kind. Bacteria, algae and fungi, nematodes and earthworms, tiny insects like springtales, insect larvae, mites, and the like. All of them play an important role in the cycle of organic matter and nutrients in the soil.

Are they beneficial? In fact, they are essential! They are absolutely necessary to decompose plant residues and transform them into nutrients available for plants. Soil organisms improve aeration and water infiltration, they bring nutrients up from below and other nutrients down into the soil from the surface. They make nutrients available by transforming them into substances that plants can take up with their root system. Soil organisms also store large amounts of nutrients by digesting them and incorporating them into their own biomass - and as they die off and decompose these nutrients become available again to plants. 

What does this have to do with landscape fabric? When taking a look at a garden with landscape fabric (and perhaps a thick layer of barkmulch on top of it) - one will usually find unhealthy plants, often stunted in their growth, stresses and diseased. And where under the fabric are those fat worms that do such a fine job in a healthy garden? There aren't any. Neither are there any other larger soil organisms, because the fabric literally stops them in their tracks. Nothing can get down, nothing can come up. But all of these organisms move around and need to come up to the surface at times.

Landscape fabric works well to suppress weeds. However, it should only be used in limited areas and be removed after one or two seasons, so that soil life can recover. A fresh dose of compost would very much help at this time. If the fabric is left in place for many years, the lack of activity by soil organisms will degrade soil fertility, and plants will slowly become unhealthy and decline.

The only places where landscape fabric makes sense permanently are under a walkway and along a foundation under a layer of gravel.

To obtain a healthy soil, and join the club of successful gardeners, we recommend to:

- remove excessive amounts of bark mulch and make sure to remove old, unnecessary landscape fabric as well.

- use as much compost as possible to improve soil quality, and add to it every year or two to maintain a healthy, rich soil.

- to suppress weeds, cover garden beds with barkmulch after planting and hand-weed in the first seasons, so that weeds can not get established.

- use dense, vigorous groundcovers to suppress weeds where this is an option (not Vinca or the very low and thin varieties of creeping junipers)

- close to any plants keep mulch thin and avoid mounding up mulch against tree bark, which can rot and the tree will die.

- use landscape fabric only when you encounter very severe weed problems. Remove the fabric after one or two seasons, depending on the persistence of the weeds.

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