Natural Matters combines knowledge and over
twenty-five years experience with quality products to provide quality results,
and has a dedicated network of experienced resources to draw from when you need
answers. For those desiring a healthy
organic yard, Natural Matters will help provide full services. Natural Matters
products contain certifiable food quality components. Natural Matters is a small,
local company providing personalized service.
Results of Rodale’s long-term systems trials (23 years
of research) shows that the organic method can be a powerful atmospheric
scrubber. Conventional chemical fertilizers rapidly volatize or “burn” organic
matter, releasing carbon into the atmosphere rather than retaining it in the
soil system. The organic method, through the use of natural fertilizer
amendments and vigorous microbial populations, nourishes healthy plant tissues
that will suck carbon and nitrogen out of the air (scientists call the process
“carbon sequestration”), and make it available for plant growth.
While soils of this region are sufficient to support
native species, native soils need to be amended to meet other plant’s requirements.
Our homes and yards are, to differing degrees, the result of disruption of the
native landscape. To get a solid foundation for home construction, the top soil
will be scraped off, leaving the ground bare and ideal for home construction,
but less than ideal for a successful yard. The soil components that are lost
during this process need to be reintroduced into the soil.
Soil building is not just adding soil. Soil building
is that which improves growing conditions. Soil building is the stimulation of
micro-life in the soil and involves the incorporation of organic matter,
minerals, and bacteria to replenish the soil food web (interconnected life
cycling) thereby causing a chain reaction / domino effect of bio-chemical
reactions conventional chemical treatments can rarely imitate.
Soil conditioning is modifying soil texture, as well as its
physical and chemical properties, with mechanical and/or chemical means—for
example: aeration for oxygen/porosity, pH for nutrient exchange.
Most of Natural Matters treatments will not require
additional watering in. Normal humidity, morning dew, and rainfall will do the
trick. We will advise you if for some reason these would not be adequate.
Soil building is at the heart of the organic method. When
you feed and nurture the soil in addition to the plant, the soil gains the
capacity to feed the plant and provide for its balanced health as well, it (the
soil) becomes the medium of support or “infrastructure” if you will, for
numerous bio-chemical processes. The goal is a sustainable holistic living
system. Not just green grass, no bugs and no weeds! Yet this will occur, as
balance is restored there will be fewer pest incidents and quicker recovery
time. In order to achieve a successful organic yard, plant stress reduction is
the key. Healthy yards come from healthy soil; healthy soil is the by-product
of microbial activity, i.e. the soil food web. Grow the soil to grow the plant.
Weeds are a good indicator of soil health, they occur
in response to conditions and deficiencies. As conditions change, so will the
weeds. Balanced healthy soils have fewer weeds; and healthy turf will choke out
most of those that remain.
Bugs,
too, are an indication of health. Healthy plants are less appealing to bugs and
more able to recover if outbreaks occur. Bugs are attracted to unhealthy
plants—they are natures “cleaners.” They arrive to clean up the problem and are
the enforcers of the “survival of the fittest law,” eating and excreting,
recycling plant bodies, and cycling nutrient energy for re-growth. Bugs are part of the web of life. They are not the end of
the world. You’ll always have a few bugs—the important thing is balance. By not
reacting with poisons, you let natural controls remedy the problem. See IPM for further information.
Nutrition/fertilization is not usually
the primary cause of plant death. Poor growing conditions are. Nutrition/
fertilization is responsible for establishing and maintaining (soil i.e.) plant
health. If plants are dying or in decline usually the cause of the problem will
be poor growing conditions and/or pest (insect or disease) brought on by those
poor growing conditions but most importantly it’s a matter of using the right
plant in the right place.