Baking soda: a key gardening ingredient

I've always found gardening to be very much like writing a novel: labor-intensive, a way to express oneself creatively, difficult at times, but ultimately rewarding.  So anything that pumps up the creative, fun aspect, and makes the process on a whole a bit easier, is always welcomed.

Like a rough draft of a manuscript that can get too wordy--a particular problem of mine--the work of art we create in our outdoor spaces can suffer from overabundance.  Sometimes we just have too much of a good thing.  Take moss, for example.  It can fill in moist, shady niches in the garden where grass won't grow well.  It not only stays green all summer, but actually deepens to a rich emerald and acquires a lush, wall-to-wall carpet-type of texture as the season progresses.  But who wants this "carpet" covering the stone and brick spaces of patios, walkways and driveways?  Not I!  Yet July's humidity pushes this producer into overdrive, prompting me to look for an editor to this story.

Baking soda is that editor, who cuts through the excess, but in a kind way that won't hurt too much.  I've talked about this substance in the past, touting its attributes much like a novelist thanks contributors at the back of a book.  It's non-toxic and effective, and I've used it for quite some time.  Yet the other day I began to wonder, what is this substance that I take for granted?  Besides being a kitchen staple, vital for baking, pot-scrubbing, tooth-brushing, fridge freshening, and the aforementioned garden applications, what is it?  Here, an explanation from the blog, Green Living Tips:

Baking soda, also known as bicarbonate of soda or sodium bicarbonate, is a very handy non-toxic compound that can be used as a more environmentally friendly replacement for many harsher chemicals.


How baking soda is made
It's not, for the most part, a naturally occurring product. The base substance, soda ash, from which sodium bicarbonate is extracted is usually refined in one of two ways:
a) The Solvay method. In this method carbon dioxide and ammonia are injected into a concentrated solution of sodium chloride. At this stage, some sodium bicarbonate is formed. It is then heated to form soda ash, from which a more pure sodium bicarbonate is extracted. The Solvay method does produce environmentally damaging byproducts such calcium chloride in a liquid solution that when discharged into inland waterways can increase salinity.
b) Trona ore. The world’s largest deposit of trona ore is in the Green River Basin of Wyoming and is extracted by underground room-and-pillar mining. There are over 62 identified natural sodium carbonate deposits in the world with supposedly enough raw product to satisfy the world’s needs for thousands of years. Once the Trona ore is extracted, it’s refined into a slurry of sodium sesquicarbonate that contains soda ash (sodium carbonate) and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).
Soda ash can also be be manufactured from salt and limestone; practically inexhaustible resources, but synthetic soda ash costs more to produce and creates environmentally damaging by-products.

Refining soda ash
Once the soda ash has been created, the solution is placed into a centrifuge, separating the liquid from bicarbonate crystals. The crystals are then dissolved to form a bicarbonate solution  and filtered to remove any insoluble materials.
The resulting solution is then pumped up to a carbonating tower. Carbon dioxide is pumped into the base of the tower pressurized. The solution reacts with the carbon dioxide to form sodium bicarbonate crystals.
The crystals are collected, placed in another centrifuge, washed and dried to form a high purity baking soda.
Earth friendly baking soda
When choosing a baking soda and having “green” principles in mind; you’re somewhat caught between a rock and a hard place. The Solvay method has been known to ruin inland waterways and Trona ore means mining. Still, not everything can be manufactured from air. When you compare the production and use of baking soda with the effects on the environment of other chemicals used in products that baking soda can replace; baking soda is certainly the “greener” option, however it is sourced.
The only other comparable substance that is more earth friendly that sodium bicarbonate is probably vinegar. While vinegar is certainly a very versatile substance; it probably doesn’t have the range of uses of baking soda.

How well does it work?
See for yourself.  Below, I sprinkled baking soda on the top half of bricks.  The bottom two rows were left untreated.  Notice how the top section has yellowing--even blackening--moss.  The moss growing between the bottom bricks is still green and healthy.  For quickest results, sprinkle the baking soda on desired spot, wait a few hours, then take a watering can or garden hose, and spray a small amount of water to the area.  The water seems to activate the baking soda, and boost its power.