It’s no secret, our gardens are an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. We plant an array of heritage and common fruit and vegetable varieties with the hope of producing healthy, organic food that is full of flavour for our families. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to grow our own food, the average yield from our vegetable gardens can often be disappointing (even with adequate water and fertilisers). In Melbourne, we not only contend with low sunshine hours but also poor-quality soils. Soils that contain poor physical qualities and chemical composition are the real cause of low-performing yields. It’s why we have developed the ultimate growing media at Easy As Organics – a potting mix that increases sustainable food production all year round.
Soil: The Foundations for Success
Melbourne soils (like many cities within Australia) are old and lack the appropriate nutrients and water retention qualities required to make a productive garden. Soil is so much more than dirt; it’s formed by cycling geological and biological phenomena working together to produce the nutrient-filled basis of your garden. Just like the foundations of a house, it should be healthy and strong before you attempt to grow and cultivate your organic food.
Here at Easy As Organics, we understand that without high-quality soil it is simply impossible to produce high-quality yields from your garden.
Years of Research to Create a New Gold Standard
We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to fine tune the formulation of our flagship product, Easy As Organics Living Soil. It is a high-end certified organic soil media for potted and raised bed plants that we have been developing over the last 5 years.
We are proud to have completed years of research and development into creating the ultimate living soil media nutrient and physical profile. After extensive hard work in adjusting and balancing the physical and chemical properties of Living Organic Soil, we know that this product will take your home-grown organic food production to the next level. The new formulation is nutrient-rich and easy to work with, so it can be used in any kind of edible garden. These physical and chemical properties with the use of quality worm castings and compost has led to thriving biological properties and nutrient cyclcing potential for even the most demanding annual plant varieties.
Easy As Organics Living Soil is made of the highest quality organic materials, including composted plant matter, worm castings and peat moss. The new formulation includes the addition of Australian-made wood fibre, a new horticultural substrate, made in Victoria from soft wood chips. It is manufactured from thermo-mechanically defibred, sustainably sourced radiata pine wood chips from offcuts of the timber industry.
Living Soil is designed to provide your plants with everything they need for healthy growth without any of the chemicals or additives that are often found in synthetic potting media. The new formulation is scientifically designed for producing high-quality, high-yielding organic edible gardens, not just in Melbourne, but in all cities across Australia. We are confident that you will be amazed by the results.
The Right Formulation
As part of our Easy As Organics ethos, we only use the best quality organic ingredients, selected for their high nutritional value, carbon content, biostimulant properties and varying speeds of nutrient release.
In our new formulation of the Easy As Organics Living Soil, we have perfected the balance of fertility for nutrients and sufficiency whilst keeping heavy metals, sodium and chloride as low as possible. The minerals are expertly balanced, guided by analysis from EAL Laboratories and Logan Labs. This has been accurately achieved by testing and amending to the industry-standard nutrient target levels. The nutrient sufficiency, balance and targets have been met by drawing from a large dataset gathered over years by top-level organic crop and soil specialists.
In addition, we have improved the physical structure by replacing some of the scoria aeration material with new, locally made (right here in Melbourne), horticultural grade wood fibre substrate.
Living Soil is Key to Growing the Highest Quality, Nutrient-Dense And Vibrant Crops
The quality and nutrient density of a harvested crop from this soil must be experienced to be believed! Our trials have shown excellent results with our new formulation, particularly in relation to germination and early root development in seedlings. We have also reported significantly faster vegetative growth and fewer problems associated with overwatering. Even nutrient-hungry, fast-growing annual plants will absolutely thrive in this soil under the right conditions for multiple cycles in large containers. When moisture levels are dialled in using a moisture meter and automatic watering such as Blumat, even higher yields can be achieved.
The reason for the high yields, incredible nutrient density, and complexity of flavour and aroma is due to the science contained within this renewed and unique formulation.
Increased Air And Water Availability
The addition of the wood fibre creates higher air porosity than other leading soil media available in the market. The higher air porosity ultimately leads to greater capacity for the soil to hold oxygen. The increase in available oxygen in the root zone results in better efficiency of photosynthesis.
The fibrous growing media within Living Soil also has greater tolerance to both under and over-watering – and even performs well in less-than-ideal environments. The rewetting and water penetration properties are superb, providing better water distribution throughout the soil. Best of all, the soil does not become hydrophobic even after allowing the soil to remain dry for long periods of time (due to the addition of the soft wood chips).
Increased Microbial Activity
Furthermore, the new formulation also has increased aerobic microbial activity. These beneficial microbes can effectively break down the organic nutrients into more bio-available forms for the plant – the result is better nutrient availability and absorption by the plant.
The living soil encourages an ecosystem of beneficial microorganisms and predator insects. Over time you will see a diverse and rich ecosystem of insects underneath the mulch. These insects are part of the soil food web that helps to break down organic matter and releases nutrients in a plant’s available form. Some insects will even produce compounds that destroy pests, boost natural plant immunity, and protect plants from disease!
In addition to the above, the bulk density of the soil media has been reduced by 25%, leading to lower freight costs, a lower transportation footprint, as well as easier and safer handling.
To learn more about the science behind some of our soil inputs, please visit our knowledge base.
Unlock The Potential
We are thrilled to launch the new formulation of Living Soil – our optimal soil media for potted and raised bed plants. Through our extensive and scientific assessment, we believe our unique soil blend will help you cultivate incredible organic food in your Melbourne garden. By encouraging impressive plant health, you can easily unlock the genetic potential of your favourite varieties for amazing plant phytochemical production. Get great yields, and produce exceptional harvests that a full of flavour and nutrients this season with our new Easy As Organics Living Soil.