Spring Topdressing

Most gardeners know the value of adding organic matter/manure or compost to native soil before planting a shrub or flowers. But the soft soil that was once there will get hard after a few years if nothing more is done. One way to keep soil soft around perennials is to topdress them each spring.
Mix a bag of soil conditioner with a bag of mushroom compost in a wheelbarrow. Pull the mulch back from around your plants and put a half-inch layer of topdressing material on the soil. Recover with mulch.
As the weather warms, earthworms will eagerly feed on the rich material and bring it down into the soil around your plants, feeding the plants and keeping the soil soft!
























Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/139653/spring-topdressing site