The soil food web - nature's secret to a thriving garden

Our gardens are living ecosystems where the success of every plant, tree and lawn relies on the microscopic community beneath our feet – a system known as the soil food web. This intricate network of organisms acts as nature's own engineering team, turning inert matter into a thriving, fertile environment. Understanding and nurturing this hidden world is the key to creating landscapes that are not just beautiful, but genuinely resilient and self-sustaining. For gardeners, this means avoiding, where possible, chemical fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides and embracing instead, a holistic approach to soil health, writes Robert Wilkins, operations director for Ruskins, one of the country’s leading soil specialists.

The soil food web is a community of organisms ranging from the microscopic to the macroscopic, all of them interconnected. It begins with the decomposers, which include bacteria and fungi that break down dead organic matter such as leaves and roots. These primary consumers are the foundation of the ecosystem, converting detritus into essential nutrients plants can absorb. The next level includes tiny invertebrates like nematodes and protozoa, which graze on the bacteria and fungi. This process, in turn, releases excess nitrogen and other nutrients back into the soil, making them readily available for plant roots.

A vibrant and diverse soil food web provides two primary benefits - enhanced nutrient cycling and natural pest control. When the web is balanced, organisms work efficiently to break down organic matter and mineralise it into a form plants can use. This removes  the need for chemical fertilisers, as the garden's own ecosystem provides a continuous and steady supply of nutrients. Plants grow stronger and healthier as a result. Furthermore, a balanced food web includes predators such as mites, centipedes and beetles, which naturally prey on common garden pests. This biological control removes the need for chemical pesticides and fungicides, promoting a healthier environment for both plants and people.

The life within the soil also directly influences its physical structure. Earthworms and other burrowing invertebrates aerate the soil, creating channels that allow water to drain efficiently. Fungal networks bind soil particles together, improving its structure and preventing erosion. A healthy, living soil structure drains up to ten times better than compacted, degraded ground, reducing waterlogging and water-related stress for plants. This natural engineering creates a permeable, breathable soil that is the perfect medium for strong root growth and long-term plant vitality.

Mycorrhizal fungi are the key

The symbiotic relationship between soil organisms and plant roots is equally crucial. Mycorrhizal fungi, a key component of the food web, form a partnership with a plant's roots, extending their reach to access water and nutrients from a much wider area. In return, the plant provides the fungi with sugars produced during photosynthesis. This remarkable network is an essential part of a plant's resilience, helping it to withstand periods of drought and disease. Nurturing the soil food web is therefore an investment in the plant's natural support system, a critical factor in its ability to establish and thrive.

Degraded soil, by contrast, fails. It lacks this thriving network of microorganisms, fungi and invertebrates. This results in poor drainage, with water pooling on the surface. Without the natural nutrient cycling provided by a healthy food web, plants struggle to find sustenance and rely on a constant, but often unsustainable, supply of external fertilisers. The lack of natural predators also leaves plants vulnerable to a growing number of pests. The soil's compacted structure resists root growth, leading to stressed, weak plants that are susceptible to disease. In short, the difference between a garden that struggles and one that flourishes often comes down to the health of the unseen life beneath its surface.

For gardeners, the path to a thriving landscape lies in nurturing this biological network. Instead of simply feeding the plants, the focus must change to feeding the soil. This can be achieved by incorporating organic matter like well-rotted compost, which provides a food source for the entire web. Avoiding the use of harsh chemicals and over-tilling the soil helps to protect the delicate ecosystem.

However, for many gardens, particularly where soil has been heavily compacted, the natural biological life is suffocated and destroyed. This turns a once-living medium into a dense, lifeless substance that struggles to drain water or support plant roots, creating a hostile environment for new planting. This is a common and often overlooked issue that requires a specific, targeted intervention to reverse.

To address this, Ruskins has developed a proactive solution using a natural liquid known as "Compost Tea." This is not a fertiliser - it is a living, nutrient-rich mixture containing billions of beneficial microorganisms - including bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. This creates a highly concentrated liquid solution that is ready to be applied directly to the damaged soil.

The application of this natural liquid is designed to reintroduce the necessary microbes and organisms to kick-start the soil food web. The tea drenches the compacted ground, delivering a thriving community of biological life directly to the root zone. These microorganisms immediately begin to break down organic matter, improve aeration and create the symbiotic relationships with plant roots that are essential for long-term health and growth.

By prioritising the health of the soil food web, gardeners can create landscapes that are more sustainable and require less intervention. Landscapes with a healthy soil biology establish faster, with lusher growth, resilient shrubs and thriving trees. For homeowners and professional gardeners alike, this translates to fewer problems, lower maintenance costs and an enhanced, self-sustaining landscape that works with nature, not against it. The ground beneath our feet is not just a base for our plants - it is a living system that determines whether our gardens succeed or fail. Restore it and everything built on it thrives.

Relocating mature hedges and the living benefits for house builders

Modern urban design should stop viewing hedging as simple boundaries. Mature hedging offers a superior, multi-functional alternative to conventional fences or walls. They provide a living barrier, part of a dynamic infrastructure that delivers significant environmental and social benefits for new developments. Natural hedges also provide noise reduction, enhanced privacy, effective pollution absorption and vital biodiversity and such are their benefits, that they are becoming increasingly attractive for Britain’s housebuilders, writes Robert Wilkins, operations director for Ruskins, a market leader specialising in the re-location of trees, shrubs and hedging.

These moves from conventional walls and fences to a more holistic view of mature hedging provides powerful solutions to some of the most significant challenges in high-density urban areas. Rather than viewing hedges as a simple fence substitute, developers can use their multi-functional nature to address key environmental issues and create genuinely superior living spaces. One of the most tangible examples of this is the hedge's capacity for acoustic shielding.

A mature hedge provides a highly effective solution for urban noise mitigation. Unlike a solid wall that reflects sound waves, dense foliage and branches actively absorb and diffuse acoustic energy. This biological barrier works to dampen ambient noise from traffic and neighbouring properties, creating noticeably quieter and more tranquil micro-environments for residents – a major plus for buyers of new homes.

In addition to its acoustic properties, mature hedging offers a robust and natural form of privacy and security. The dense foliage creates an immediate visual screen providing a sense of seclusion and enclosure for homes and gardens, often absent from new build developments. This organic barrier delivers a softer aesthetic than a brick wall or wooden fence, while still establishing clear boundaries. The physical density of a well-maintained hedge also serves as a formidable deterrent for intruders, enhancing the security of a property in a way that feels natural and highly effective.

Hedges are also important corridors between areas for wildlife, particularly important for some species of Bats. Their wildlife benefits are becoming more and more recognised.  

For Ruskins, the process of relocating a mature hedge begins with a precise assessment of its species, age and overall health to determine the feasibility of the move. Once a hedge is selected, a specialist team carefully prepares it for relocation. Using state-of-the-art machinery, the hedge's root system is expertly removed from the ground in a large, intact root ball. This root ball is then carefully encapsulated in a protective cage or wrapping to maintain its integrity, ensuring the root structure remains moist and stable during the entire process, protecting it from damage. This critical initial stage is precisely engineered to minimise stress on the living hedge and maximise its chances of successful re-establishment.

Once established in its new home, the hedge leaves and stems act as a natural filtration system, trapping airborne particulate matter, dust and other contaminants. Furthermore, the plants absorb carbon dioxide, contributing positively to local air quality. In a built-up urban environment, this bio-filtration provides a direct health benefit to residents, but it also demonstrates a developer's commitment to creating cleaner, more sustainable living spaces.

From an ecological perspective, mature hedging is an essential component of a truly sustainable urban landscape. It provides vital habitat and a food source for a variety of native wildlife, including birds, insects and small mammals. By creating a continuous green corridor, hedges help to connect fragmented green spaces, fostering biodiversity across a wider area. Integrating these ecological assets into a development enriches the local ecosystem, but it also enhances the overall appeal of a neighbourhood to an environmentally conscious market.

Ultimately, mature hedging stands as a superior design solution offering a holistic blend of function, form and sustainability. It provides a natural aesthetic that softens hard architectural lines and introduces seasonal visual interest. The collective benefits of noise reduction, privacy, pollution absorption and biodiversity not only create a more pleasant living environment, but also significantly enhance a property's marketability and long-term value. Forward-thinking urban design should therefore move beyond static boundaries and embrace the dynamic potential of hedges as living, multi-functional assets.

How trees and hedges combat the urban heat island effect

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, a phenomenon which sees urban areas becoming significantly warmer than the surrounding rural landscapes, particularly at night, is now a major environmental challenge. The concrete, asphalt and materials of our built environment absorb and retain heat, while the lack of green spaces exacerbates the problem, leading to uncomfortable temperatures, increased energy consumption and even health risks, but there is a solution writes Robert Wilkins, operations director for Ruskins, one of the country’s leading tree specialists.

Trees and hedges are powerful, natural allies in mitigating the Urban Heat Island effect, which is fundamentally caused by the way traditional urban surfaces interact with solar radiation. Dark roofs, roads and pavements absorb sunlight, storing heat during the day and radiating it back into the atmosphere long after the sun sets.

This is compounded by the lack of vegetation, which would otherwise provide shade and cooling through natural processes. Furthermore, waste heat generated by vehicles, industrial activities and air conditioning units contributes to the problem. The consequences are far-reaching, resulting in higher energy bills as homes and businesses turn up air conditioning, increased air pollution, because higher temperatures can accelerate the formation of ground-level ozone and increased health risks, particularly for vulnerable people who can be adversely affected during heatwaves.

Trees are, quite literally, nature's air conditioners, offering a dual-action cooling mechanism. Firstly, their canopies provide direct shade, dramatically reducing surface temperatures on pavements, buildings and vehicles. This can lower the temperature of shaded surfaces by as much as 10-25°C compared to unshaded areas. This direct shading reduces the amount of heat absorbed by urban infrastructure, which would otherwise be re-radiated.

Releasing water vapour

Secondly, trees cool the surrounding air through a process called evapotranspiration. This is where trees release water vapour from their leaves into the atmosphere, a process akin to sweating. As water evaporates, it draws heat from the environment, leading to a significant drop in ambient air temperatures. A single large tree can transpire hundreds of litres of water per day, providing a cooling effect comparable to several small air conditioning units. A strategically planted tree line can also help to regulate airflow, channelling cooler breezes or blocking hot, dry winds, further enhancing thermal comfort.

Hedges, while often perceived as boundary markers or aesthetic features, play an equally vital, albeit different, role in combating the Urban Heat Island effect. Though their individual cooling capacity might be less dramatic than a mature tree, their collective power is substantial. Hedges provide a dense wall of foliage, offering a large surface area for evapotranspiration, thereby contributing to localised cooling. They act as effective barriers, intercepting solar radiation before it strikes heat-absorbing surfaces and mitigating the impact of reflected heat from walls and pavements.

This creates cooler, shadier microclimates along pedestrian walkways and around building perimeters. Furthermore, the dense foliage of hedges helps to filter dust and pollutants, contributing to improved urban air quality - a crucial secondary benefit in heat-stressed urban environments where air quality can deteriorate.

The real power in combating the Urban Heat Island effect lies in the strategic and widespread integration of green infrastructure throughout our urban landscapes. A holistic approach, combining large canopy trees with extensive hedge networks, green roofs and permeable surfaces, creates a powerful cooling effect that extends across entire developments and communities.

This network of natural cooling reduces the overall heat load on a city, leading to decreased energy consumption, improved public health outcomes and a much more pleasant and liveable urban environment. It's about designing landscapes that work with nature to regulate temperature and enhance quality of life for everyone.

This is where companies such as Ruskins, with decades of specialist expertise, can provide an invaluable solution for new build projects. While such developments are often designed with sustainability in mind, it takes decades for newly planted saplings to grow into the mature trees needed to provide significant cooling.

Re-locating mature trees and hedges

This creates a substantial gap in immediate environmental benefits and aesthetic appeal. At Ruskins, we specialise in transplanting mature trees and hedges, allowing new build projects to instantly benefit, as a byproduct of this process, from the cooling power of established greenery. It means that a new housing development can instantly shaded by mature trees or buffered by dense, established hedging - delivering an immediate reduction in surface temperatures, with natural evaporative cooling and enhanced air quality from day one.

Transplanting trees and hedges enables the cooling effect and other benefits to be retained. Tree spades can move trees up to six metres in height relatively cost effectively. This signals a strong commitment to environmental responsibility and sustainability, creating healthier, more attractive spaces for residents and users from the moment they are completed.

The science behind the relocation of mature trees and hedges

For developers, golf course managers and estate owners, the idea of moving a mature tree - perhaps even one with a 125-tonne root ball, as famously featured in the Sunday Times Home section - might seem an insurmountable challenge. Yet, the transplanting of large trees and extensive hedges is a remarkably achievable process, provided you have the right expertise and specialised equipment, writes Robert Wilkins, operations director at Ruskins, one of the country’s leading experts in everything to do with trees and healthy soils.

Transplanting existing trees, hedges and shrubs offers significant advantages over removal and replanting with new, smaller specimens. Economically, relocating trees using Tree Spades can also save up to 90% against the cost of purchasing the same size trees. This immediately enhances the aesthetic appeal and perceived value of a landscape, delivering an established look that new plantings cannot replicate for decades.

Tree moving particularly addresses critical challenges on development sites. Trees and hedges, including those protected by Preservation Orders (TPOs), can be strategically relocated with local authority approval. This improves essential access, increases plot sizes, or allows for optimal building placement. Specimens can be moved directly to a new permanent location, placed into safe temporary storage areas (on or off-site), or entirely removed for replanting elsewhere.

This flexibility extends to golf courses, where tree reserves are regularly exploited to improve course design, especially when there is a need to prevent balls from entering adjacent properties, or to create and replace hazards.

The methodology for tree transplanting varies depending on the specimen's size and the specific site conditions. For trees with a trunk diameter up to approximately 20cm, a specialised Tree Spade offers a cost-effective and time-saving solution. These machines excavate a compact root ball, enabling efficient relocation. Companies like ours use a fleet of such spades, including 2m diameter large Spades, to handle a broad spectrum of projects.

For larger trees, beyond the capacity of Tree Spades, there is an alternative - the "root ball, frame, and crane" technique. This approach means we can handle the very largest trees, illustrated by the successful relocation of a TPO'd Pine with a 125 -tonne root ball, mentioned at the start of this blog. This process involves carefully creating a bespoke root ball, securing it within a specialised frame and then moving the entire unit, often by a combination of dragging and crane lifting. This process is undertaken without lifting on the trunk.

Root preparation and aftercare

The success of large tree transplanting is significantly improved by careful preparation, particularly in the area of root pruning. This involves strategically severing roots to stimulate the growth of new, fibrous feeder roots closer to the trunk, preparing the tree for relocation. Ideally, this process spans up to two years, resulting in a higher quality transplant. Where time constraints prevent such a prolonged preparation period, it may be possible to increase the size of the root ball and more intensive aftercare is implemented to compensate.

Regardless of the moving method, competent aftercare is as vital as the transplanting itself. This post-move care supports the tree as it re-establishes its root system in its new location. For the largest specimens, this critical aftercare period can extend up to ten years, ensuring the tree successfully re-establishes its full root network.

Hedge transplanting also benefits using a similar approach. While hedges can be coppiced for relocation, specialised techniques exist to transplant them without reducing their benefits. This allows hedges to appear the same in their new location, retaining immediate screening, wildlife, barrier or aesthetic benefits.

These advanced techniques have earned recognition from regulatory bodies, with one Local Authority Tree Officer, when approving the root balling of eight mature Lime trees for a major development, commented, "I can find no reason to refuse this application." This underscores the efficacy and acceptance of modern tree transplanting practices in delivering challenging projects while preserving valuable natural assets.

Far from being an impossible task, the relocation of established trees and hedges represents a sophisticated solution for contemporary landscape and construction challenges. This specialised capability not only delivers immediate visual impact and significant cost efficiencies (when moving with Tree Spades), but also provides a crucial tool for preserving valuable natural assets on complex sites, demonstrating a clear commitment to both environmental stewardship and strategic development goals.

The joy of climbing a tree is bringing nature back into playgrounds

As concerns grow over children’s lack of ability to assess risk, combined with sedentary lifestyles, screen addiction and the sterile uniformity of traditional play equipment, a new generation of play spaces is turning to something far older - trees. Trees are sustainably sourced from within the UK and are repurposed as fallen trunks and branches and being reintroduced into parks and playgrounds across the country.  Known as Play Trees and Play Logs and frequently working together with living trees - these installations are not just visually striking - they are transforming how children engage with the outdoors, offering physical challenges, the assessment of risk through play, sparking creativity, building confidence and a vital connection to nature, writes Robert Wilkins, operations director at Ruskins.

Play trees are not a new idea. In fact, they take us back to the world’s first playgrounds - the woods. Long before fixed play equipment became standardised, children clambered over fallen trunks, swung from low branches and balanced along limbs shaped by the wind and weather. Today, landscape architects and playground contractors are rediscovering these elements and weaving them into designed playgrounds with a renewed appreciation for nature – but what are Play Trees?

In short, they can be many things - a large horizontal tree, a series of robust logs used for balancing or climbing, incorporated into a play area with custom pathways or ropes, or even a set of upright vertical trunks arranged into an interactive formation. They can exist as standalone sculptures or as integral elements in larger natural play schemes. These installations rely on real timber and are designed to meet safety standards while still offering a tactile, wild experience.

One of the advantages of Play Trees is their sheer versatility. A single trunk can serve as a climbing beam, a lookout point, a bench, or a storytelling corner. Clustered together, multiple trees become an adventure, a   maze, a forest fortress, or a pretend jungle. In this sense, they encourage imaginative, open-ended play - an area increasingly championed by child development specialists.

Why natural play matters

Natural play encourages creativity, physical challenges and strengthens resilience.  Unlike prefabricated play equipment, which often dictates how a child must use it, Play Trees and other natural elements leave space for invention. A sloping trunk becomes a pirate ship mast. A balance beam turns into a tightrope above molten lava. Children build their own narratives and test their own limits.

The benefits are also physical. Natural timber surfaces vary in texture and temperature, improving sensory input. Irregular shapes demand balance and coordination. They build strength and dexterity, particularly in younger children. Perhaps more importantly, they teach risk awareness - a skill all too often engineered out of modern playgrounds.

There is also a growing body of research showing that natural spaces reduce stress, improve attention spans and support mental wellbeing. When children engage with real materials like wood, stone and soil, they connect more deeply with their environment. This connection forms the foundation for environmental awareness in later life.

Robert comments that they often see when people interact with their Play Trees and Play Logs, an “inner monkey” emerges from within people, always accompanied by a cheshire cat like grin, as people re-engage with trees.

For local authorities, schools and public landowners, incorporating Natural Play features is also about practicality. Sustainable Play Tree installations can often be more cost-effective than large, manufactured installations. They are scalable, flexible and can be adjusted to fit difficult or constrained sites. Specialist contractors who supply Play Trees often hold reserves of ready-to-install materials, allowing projects to move quickly and meet tight deadlines.

Working with large, heavy trees - some with extensive branch structures - requires technical knowledge, especially when access is limited or where existing landscaping must be preserved. Experience in lifting and positioning trees in awkward spaces is essential to deliver installations that are both safe and visually striking. Done correctly, a well-positioned Play Tree can become a focal point - not only for play but also for community identity.

As specialists in this area, Ruskins has recently created a playground out of a cluster of five upright vertical trees to create a “play forest.” The effect was both dramatic and playful, allowing children to weave between the trunks, play hide-and-seek and use them as bases for imaginary games. This grouping of several trees created a microenvironment with height, form and movement, where a single tree would have made a far more limited impact.

Sustainability and ethics

One concern sometimes raised about Play Trees is whether the removal of trees for play is environmentally sound. Reputable contractors like us, address this by sourcing only from sustainable, managed woodlands and ensuring that dead or felled trees used for play purposes are replaced or compensated through replanting as part of the felling licence. The carbon footprint of a Play Tree installation is often negligible, especially when compared to the manufacturing and transport involved in plastic or metal alternatives.

In fact, when done responsibly, the use of dead trees in playgrounds can form part of a holistic ecological approach. It repurposes timber that might otherwise be chipped or burned and by working with the natural form of the tree rather than shaping it into something artificial, it honours the material’s origin. Living trees incorporated into playgrounds are usually selected and positioned in such a way that they can thrive, rather than be compromised by footfall or a proximity to hard landscaping. Then after their natural lifecycle they continue to serve a purpose by storing, then returning to the soil the nutrients and carbon held within, whilst at the same time being an excellent host for wildlife.     

Equally important, landowners need to be aware that natural play design is not simply a matter of installing a few logs and walking away. It requires thoughtful integration with the landscape, an understanding of how children of different ages play and sensitivity to the character of the local community. In parks, urban greenspaces, schools and nature reserves, successful play tree designs have been those that reflect the surroundings - whether wild, urban, formal, or rewilded.

Crucially, Play Trees do not exist in isolation. They often link with other features such as rope bridges, earth mounds, water features, or natural amphitheatres. Used this way, they become part of a broader natural play narrative - a space that evolves, grows and responds to the people who use it.

As our cities become more densely built and childhood becomes more digitally oriented, the need for real, tangible interaction with the natural world becomes ever more important. Play Trees offer a vital solution. They bring together sustainability, creativity and physical engagement in a way few modern playground components can match.

Our mission extends beyond  creating fun and natural playgrounds, we are committed to pursuing environmentally sustainable practices, ensuring that every Play Tree / Play Log contributes to the plant by increasing biodiversity.

It is no surprise then that more local councils, schools, and developers are investing in natural play spaces that go beyond the functional. They are choosing installations that invite curiosity, support biodiversity and help shape the kind of childhood we want our young people to have - one rooted in exploration, imagination and the joy of climbing a tree

Why healthy soil is the hidden key to quality homes and happy buyers

Across countless new housing developments, a hidden problem is undermining quality and driving up customer complaints - and most housebuilders will never see it coming. The issue is not the homes themselves, but the ground they stand on. Lifeless, compacted soil, stripped of its natural biology during construction, is leaving lawns patchy, trees struggling, and drainage failing. For buyers, this quickly translates into disappointment. For housebuilders, it means the potential for reputational damage and rising rectification costs, writes Robert Wilkins, operations director for Ruskins, one of the country’s leading soil specialists.

Soil is not just dirt - it’s a living engine that supports every plant, tree and blade of grass on a development. When healthy, it drains efficiently, resists weeds and creates landscapes that boost kerb appeal and customer satisfaction. But when construction practices kill the soil, those benefits vanish. What’s left is a landscape destined to fail, unless housebuilders change the way they treat the very foundation of their soft landscaping.

At the start of building work, topsoil is stripped away and piled up, depriving it of oxygen and degrading its biology. Subsoil is compacted by heavy machinery, further suffocating life. At the end of the build, this near lifeless material is redistributed, sometimes covered with a thin layer of equally compromised imported soil and planting begins. The result is predictable, with stressed plants, poor drainage, collapsing soil structures and ultimately, complaints.

Unhealthy soil doesn’t just look bad - it fails. Gardens flood, lawns die, trees struggle to establish. Builders often react by laying new turf or installing drainage, but these fixes do not last. Degraded soil cannot breathe or support root growth, so replacements soon fail as well. As a result, customer care teams face repeat call-outs, escalating costs and a growing number of dissatisfied homeowners.

This problem is magnified in large developments where landscaping is often not seen as a priority. Smaller housebuilders, more exposed to customer feedback, feel the impact sooner. Across the industry, the lack of understanding of soil is costing money and eroding trust.

Healthy soil, by contrast, works. It contains air pockets and a thriving network of microorganisms, fungi and invertebrates. These organisms create natural drainage channels, recycle nutrients and form symbiotic relationships with plant roots, allowing lawns and shrubs to establish quickly and stay healthy. A living soil structure drains up to ten times better than compacted, degraded ground, reducing waterlogging and structural issues.

We at Ruskins has developed a proactive solution to restore health to damaged soil. Recognising that construction constraints make it impossible to protect soil throughout the build, we intervene at the final stage - just before landscaping. This approach allows us to aerate the soil and then drench it with a living biological solution, often referred to as “Compost Tea.” This natural liquid reintroduces the microbes and organisms necessary for healthy soil function.

The results speak for themselves. Landscapes treated with this biology establish faster, with lusher turf, resilient shrubs and thriving trees. In six months, carbon storage and biodiversity improve by an average of 75%, while drainage capacity also rises dramatically. For housebuilders, this translates to fewer complaints, lower maintenance costs and an enhanced product that stands out in a crowded market.

Moreover, the benefits extend far beyond aesthetics. Homes with healthy, attractive gardens and public spaces command higher prices and enjoy stronger buyer satisfaction. Research consistently links good landscaping to increased kerb appeal and property value. For developers, this is a direct return on investment.

By addressing soil health at its core, builders can eliminate a persistent source of post-completion problems. Instead of viewing landscape failures as inevitable, they can treat them as preventable and use this advantage to differentiate their product. Even though carbon storage and biodiversity gains are not yet factored into BNG metrics, the commercial benefits are immediate with better-looking developments, happier customers and fewer costly repairs.

The ground beneath our feet is not just dirt. It’s a living engine that determines whether landscapes succeed or fail. Restore it and everything built on it thrives. For housebuilders, the message is clear. Healthy soil is not an optional extra. It is the foundation of quality, value and customer satisfaction - and the time to take it seriously is now.

Scarifying and Solid/Hollow Tine Aeration

Healthy lawns are due to the association of grass roots with Soil Biology. These will drain well as soil with good Soil Biology are 50% air.

Scarifying is required when there is no Soil Biology to consume this valuable organic matter and a thatch of organic matter forms at the base of grass. If Soil Biology was present it would enjoy eating this organic matter. Ruskins can apply targeted Soil Biology to consume thatch.

Hollow / Solid Tine Aerations / Slitting Are all trying to aerate the soil. This would happen naturally if there was Soil Biology present.

Ruskins can attend aerate lawns with VOGT aerators and then apply Soil Biology to expoit this soil with better structure. Once in place you will never that to undertake the tasks in the title and have a much higher quality lawn.

Why aerate / decompact soil?

For any plant (on land, apart from two species), its association with Soil Biology helps ensure it is healthy and resilient. For Soil Biology to be working effectively, one of the main pre-requisite is an aerated soil.

Without spaces within the soil, Soil Biology cannot thrive (a compacted soil will also not allow moisture to drain (or roots undertake their vital gaseous exchange)).

There is a misunderstanding that aerating/decompacting will create a healthy soil. It should create a better environment for Soil Biology, but without applying Soil Biology when aerating/decompacting this will not be optimal for the lawn/shrubs/trees.

Aerating / decompacting a soil to help a lawn/shrub/tree, on its own is treating the symptom of no / poor Soil Biology, not the cause.

Achieve BNG targets by transplanting rather than felling

BNG massively penalises felled trees usually by planting many new trees as compensation.

If these trees/hedges/shrubs were transplanted to the edge of sites or to POS areas, they do not attract any penalty.

We can normally confirm feasibiility, method and cost with just a small amount of information.

Please call us on 01277 849990 or email us on mail@ruskins.co.uk and we will explain how we can help you.

Poor drainage of your lawn? Treat the cause not the symptoms

The recommendations to resolve this are 99% of the time, sacrify, aerate with hollow or solid tine, fetilise and the much more expensive, install drainage.

Sacrifying is removing the organic matter that has accumulated at the base of the grass, Why has it accumulated? Because it is not being eaten by Soil Biology. If Soil Biology was present in the soil, this would be food for it, This is as nature intended.

Why is there no Soil Biology? Could be compaction of soils, could be repeated moving with cut and collect mowers, taking the valuable organic matter from the garden, taking energy out of the whole system. A mulching mower will return the valuable organic matter to the base of the grass where it will be consumed by the soil.

Also all chemical fertilisers adversely impact Soil Biology by pulsing chemicals into a finely balanced natural system.

Why is the ground hard and needs to be areated with tines? Because it is dead and has collapsed in on its self. Healthy soil is 50% aur and as a result drains upto 10 times better.

Why is grass growth lack lustre and why do weeds proiiferate? This is due to lack of Soil Biology which amongst many other things has a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the grsas and plants.

Ruskins can decompact with Vogt Soil Probes, creating aerated soil and then apply Soil Biology to associate with the roots and make all plants healthier and more resilient. In addition the soil will drain much better.

Contact us with images of your lawn, a description of the problems you are witnessing, your post code and rough m2 (or your house number as well and the area can be calculated from google maps.

Leave leaves

Whilst I am repeating myself on an annual basis. Please follow nature. In nature the leaves from a tree fall, they then compost down in situ and boost the soil as their organuc matter is added to the soil.

It is the Soil Biology within the soil that this helps, which inturn provides nutrients and moisture for the roots through the Mycorrhizal Fungi that is attached to the roots.

If you cannot leave leaves, they can be composted and the composted leaves be used to dress the soil around the root system. If you have read about the benefits of mulch and have mulched the tree. Rake the mulch to one side, apply the leaf compost and replace the mulch.

Clay Soils - How to plant

This is a subject that for those whose great grand parents and grand parents knew how to resolve but this has been lost over time.

The Problem

1) Plant species, some plants enjoy clay, others will die in it. Clay is very rich in nutrients, but saturated for half the year and desiccated and rock hard for the other half. Only a few species enjoy this!

2) Plants are grown in lighter soils or compost. Then when placed into dense clay, the problems start. Moisture is wicked across from the dense clay soil into the lighter soil of the rootball or container compost of the new plant. This fills this area up like a sink, drowning the roots, this can kill the plant.

Roots undertake a gaseous exchange (breathe) and like us, if underwater (and a species that cannot cope with clay/waterlogging) can drown!

The Solution

A) Plant specimens that enjoy clay!

B) Plant raised with the root system 25-30% out of the ground and then bench soil up around the edge of the exposed root system so that the roots or soil containing then do not become desiccated or exposed to UV rays from the sun. This facilitates when the clay soil is saturated, a percentage of the root system that can still breathe.

Please note A) is always better than B) to resolve planting in clay.

"Hard Soil"

A healthy soil will be 50% air as the Soil Biology will create pockets of air. This will only feel hard if compacted.

Where soil has its Soil Biology depleted or missing, it is dirt. It collapses on itself and feels hard. It will also drain much worse and support weeds more than grass.

The use of chemical fertilisers will kill Soil Biology and should never be used,. Their use will lead to dead, hard soil.

If your topsoil is clay, it will be saturated and soft for 24+/- weeks of the year in autumn and winter, then after around a 2 week gap, in spring and summer desiccated and rock hard. I will in my next blog explain about clay soils, how to plant, how to mitigate.

So to avoid hard soil, ensure it is healthy, apply Soil Biology (give us a call), decompact/aerate to create the right structure (give us a call), stop using chemical fertilisers and ideally mulch or if lawn use mulching mowers. Composting organic matter will feed the Soil Biology.

Global Warming mitigation - it is the mature trees not newly planted trees that will help

It is a climate emergency yet local and national governments are boasting about planting X thousands of trees. Whilst not focusing on mature trees and starving Tree Departments and Planning enforcement budgets, that would assist with their protection.

It will 15-20 years before these newly planted trees will make any significant contribution.

It is the mature and young mature trees that will undertake the heavy lifting. On development and construction site these trees should retained and protected. In all locations if they are stressed or at risk from utility works / compaction etc that should be helped with decompaction /aeration and mulching.

The newly planted trees will help in a few decades and they should be cared for to ensure they establish for the benefit of future generations.

There should be a levy on all planning permissions to fund Tree Officers and Planning Enforcement Officers to help protect our mature trees.

Do not boast about trees to be planted, only about those still alive after 5 years

My local council has just ammounced 34,000 trees to be planted in the next twelve months.

This is the modern version of the emperors new clothes. It is the number that are establishing well over the next 1,2,3,4,5 years that are importatnt. There is no point planting trees unless they establish and can look after themselves.

In addition these trees will not make a significant contribution to mitigating global warming for 20-30 years. The focus should be on existing semi, young mature and mature trees, retaining these and ensuring they are happy and not stressed.

BNG (Bio-diversity Net Gain) is a joke

By excluding soil from this, half of living things, by weight on land, are excluded. To reinforce the foolishness of this omission, everything that lives above the soil, is dependent on it.

It is like thinking of the world with no oceans, seas, lakes, ponds or rivers.

In addition by classing transplanted trees as felled trees is counter productive. These trees can be ‘saved’ and should be recognised as a positive. Please note Ruskins are a leading Tree and Hedge Transplanting experts. so although there is a advantage in this for us, trust me this is highlighted more to focus on the absurdity of BNG.

Zero Carbon - The other easier, cheaper, less painful route

In 2020 the UK reached approximately 50% of its 1990 levels. I have read this is leading the world. That was the easy part, every percentage reduction from now on, will be more difficult and more expensive.

So visualise we are at +5 and zero carbon is 0. If we absorb more carbon, and achieve at -5 absorption rate, +5 plus -5 equals zero (carbon).

We are not talking about buying up acres of the Amazon or planting trees that in 30 years (if avoiding the deer and squirrels we are too squeamish to control), to reach the -5 with versions of offsetting.

It would be much much, cheaper and much less painful to treat our soils better and as a by product increase carbon storage* and biodiversity**.

* & ** We recently achieved in 6 months near 100% increases in both by treating soil better.

The madness of woodchip as a bio fuel

Half of the weight of a tree (when timber is dried) is carbon (approximately). In addition any pollution absorbed by the tree is present.

So when this is burnt for fuel, it releases the carbon and pollution.

Yet this is not included in BNG calculations or when Drax burns 12.86 million tons of wood per year……

On construction sites, the removal of organic matter from site, the pollution of the lorries that carry it to the power station or the carbon and pollution that is released into the atmosphere is not calculated in BNG / sustainability / Carbon sums.

In addition when it is considered in nature a tree grows, taking nutrients from the soil, then when it dies, it remains in situ and the nutrients in the tree are re-absorbed into the soil. There is no net loss of organic matter and the carbon is reabsorbed by the soil.

When organic matter is removed from site the soil is impoverished as the nutrients have been removed.

Yet this is not included in the BNG /Sustainability /Carbon calculations.

Tree Seed Bomb Collected from our Stand

Please find time to plant the seed bomb

Within it are a Field Maple seed and an Alder seed. They can just be placed in a suitable area and they should germinate.

We strongly recommend that the planting locations are at least 50m from properties and where possible close to existing trees. The Mycorrhizal Fungi networks from the existing trees will reach out to the new seedlings once germinated and help them altruistically, even if a different species*.

The Alder seed would prefer damper ground and the Field Maples are usually found in woodland edges and hedges.

We suggest that the seed bomb is covered with a small amount of soil or planted just below the surface. To help it establish please water during spring and summer, keep weeds away and mulch. Mulching will increase Mycorrhizal Fungi activity by upto 15 times.

* Although very altruistic and under good and average conditions they will help not only their own species, but also other species, even deciduous trees will help coniferous trees. But when the weather is very hot and dry, they can will direct all their help to their own seedlings.

If you would like any further assistance, please contact us on 01277 849990

Felled Sycamore Gap Tree

The response to this has been heartening, it proves our deep lying love for trees. Whether this relates to where the human race originated or even the recognition for the Oxygen they produce we will not lay claim to .

It would be wonderful if this love was transferred to developers planting trees who nearly always neglect the aftercare to ensure they establish, Also to householders who have trees planted in the verge / pavement, to add to the care of these trees by watering during spring and summer.

We will be posting on instagram two trees, planted in the same verge, one that has had the additional care of the nearby homeowner the other has grown without this support.