A rock is just a rock, right? Wrong!<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\nMade of limestone, the Tai Hu rocks in Lan Su Chinese Garden have been turned into pieces of art by hundreds of years of natural weathering and erosion. Limestone is made up of more than 50% calcium carbonate (calcite). The rest is clay, quartz, other rock fragments and seashells.<\/p>\n
As beautiful as they are to look at, weathered limestone rocks such as these generally lack the essential micronutrients and trace elements that plants need to flourish. That\u2019s where volcanic basalt comes in.<\/p>\n
Volcanic basalt is dense and dark, usually black or gray. It is rich in calcium, iron and magnesium and low in quartz. Compared to other rocks which are higher in quartz, basalt weather relatively quickly which means it breaks down readily in soil and is available to plant roots when they need it. Applying finely ground volcanic basalt is like adding a fresh deposit of natural soil minerals to your lawn and garden.<\/p>\n
Research shows that soil amendments made of volcanic basalt, like Cascade Minerals, can improve root systems, increase yields and promote general plant health in a wide variety of crops and conditions\u2014including those here in the west, where soil salt build-up and mineral deficiency is an issue.<\/p>\n
Our New Year\u2019s wish for you? \u201cFeast your eyes on limestone but feed your soil with basalt!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Happy Chinese New Year! 2014 is the Year of the Horse, which Chinese astrology says will bring good fortune and be filled with lively energy. We predict a bountiful growing season thanks to the organic soil-boosting benefits of volcanic basalt. Read on. Lan Su Chinese Garden Here in Portland, Oregon, a good way to get… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[32,5,15],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/2014.01.29-Lan-Su-Portland1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6YalT-bC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2033,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions\/2033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}