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All living things need care and attention, unless they are untended or wild. It does not matter if it is a goat, a duck, a mango tree, a koi fish or a human baby, or even an ornamental plant set in a pot or polybag.

The need is even more critical especially during the early stages of growth and development when the body parts are still very young and tender.

As potted plants are immobile, they do not cause much trouble including climbing over tables and chairs, or crawling and twining over someone’s legs, except for those that have been neglected for a long, long time.

There are several terms that are often applied within the field of gardening especially those related to potting, repotting and other tasks that are closely linked.

For instance, soil rejuvenation, reactivation, resuscitation, reinvigoration, revitalisation, re-enlivening, enrichment, among others, are generally applicable as far as improving the level of soil fertility, sustainability and suitability for use as a growing medium are concerned.

Take soil rejuvenation in potted plants as a first step. Plainly, this is just a gardening exercise that aims to boost plant health and fertility so that anything that grows in the soil is certain to be easily sustained for a long period of time as well as to produce better results in the form of foliage, fruits or flowers.  

This is definitely good news for countless numbers of rural folks who are scraping by planting a few kangkung or ubi kayu plants.

But what is soil rejuvenation?  Simply said, it is revitalisation, reactivation or reinvigorisation of the soil that the plant grows in by applying light and easy gardening practices without the need for massively bulging biceps and triceps, nor large and heavy tools and equipment.  It is an important gardening exercise that, although widely practiced, is hardly in the limelight.   

With soil rejuvenation, the talk generally is about soil fertilisation using a variety of mostly factory-manufactured granulated or powdered fertilisers.  

It is also about the addition into the soil of an assortment of organic manures that may be derived from chicken dung, which is also the most commonly seen, guano or bat dung, and other manures derived from animals wastes.

Centuries ago, in some cultures, even human pee and poop or excrement were collected and converted into valuable organic manures through a process of composting to decompose the stuff to eradicate the unpleasant odour and convert the mass into a colour and texture that were acceptable and user-friendly.

Nowadays, it is also common to use garden composts in the process of soil rejuvenation.  

Such composts are usually free as they may be readily created in the backyard by using freely available raw materials including leaves, small twigs, lawn clippings, kitchen wastes, discarded herbaceous plants, fruit peels, etc.  

These may be accumulated in heaps or stashed in large aerated containers for the process of decomposition to take its course.  

However, there is a need to regularly turn over the contents of the heap on at least a monthly basis. By the end of the second month, the finer portion may be separated and applied by mixing it into the soil as a compost.  

If the aeration is sufficiently good, useful compost material may be obtained earlier, but nevertheless, turning over the compost heap on a regular basis is a must to prevent the accumulation of lumps of uncomposted or partially composted material.

What are the benefits of soil rejuvenation in a potted plant, if one may ask? As mentioned earlier, it helps to improve the soil fertility so the plant growing in an enclosed growing medium does not have to face poor fertility and aeration, low soil porosity, and degradation of soil structure.  

These factors usually impact heavily on the quality and usability of the soil for the long term thus affecting its ability to sustain the plant in terms of flower, foliage or fruit production.

Soil rejuvenation also reduces the need to do heavy repotting which may damage the rootball and cause serious damage to the plant.  Moreover, soil rejuvenation is usually very light work, productive, effective and yields long lasting results that may range from 3-5 years or even longer.  

Such kinds of light gardening work is usually considered to be very beneficial to the senior citizens where even lifting a 30 cm diameter pot of plant may sometimes cause an over-strain of the backbone.

Compared to repotting, which may be quite costly if the number runs into the hundreds, the cost to do soil rejuvenation is nearly negligible.  

As soil rejuvenation does not involve repotting or lifting of the rootball, the task is therefore an enjoyable exercise especially if a couple of cuppas or bottles are on hand nearby.

The tools and other inputs required are very light and simple. This includes hand tools such a garden trowel and a pair of secateurs, plus the necessary ameliorators including composts, fertilisers, manures, etc.

These advantages such as low cost, efficiency and simplicity align best with the regular trumpeting by the honourable Minister of Agriculture about food security, need for more kitchen gardens, use of neglected lands, etc.

The process of soil rejuvenation in a pot may be started by wielding the trowel that cuts into the soil at 3 or 4 points along the edge of the pot. The soil is removed to leave behind several hollows of about 10 cm in length and 5-7 cm in width. If there are thick old roots, they may be trimmed away.  

The hollows may then be filled back with a mixture of compost, fertiliser and manure.  

Finally, to complete the task, the affected points may be filled back with fresh garden soil, and then lightly tamped and watered.

Yahoooo, the job is done.

The above writer may be reached at: onggrow@yahoo.com