GARDENING, Know Your Soil

Ever think that you have a brown thumb instead of a green thumb? It might not be your thumb at all, it could be your soil. Just because the weeds like your soil doesn’t mean that what you want to plant will like it. In this post we will take a look at types of soil and what you can do to improve it. So lets get started.

Clay soil looks just like it’s name sake, it’s a heavy and usually fertile soil, but it’s sticky and clumps together. Clay is difficult to work, it has tiny compact particles with hardly any air pockets and it can’t drain freely. It is also easily compacted when walked on. This leaves it to wet in the spring and when it dries out later in the year it cracks and forms solid clumps. This condition is bad for establishing root growth.

Sandy soil has larger particles that are irregularly shaped. This means that the soil resists being packed together and freely drains water away. There are plenty of air pockets. This means that water can wash through it taking with it nutrients that plants need.

Silt soil falls roughly between clay and sand and is usually fertile. But, like clay, it is easily compacted.

Loamy soil is a combination soil. It contains both clay and sand as well as silt. What this means is that it will drain excess water, maintain nutrients, and retain it’s shape longer (less washout).

The other essential factor of your soil that will affect the plants you can grow is acidity or alkalinity. This is measured on a pH scale, the mid point of which is 7. 7 means that the soil is neutral. Acidity increases as the number gets lower than 7, and alkaline increases as the number gets higher than 7.

You can obtain a meter (like the one shown in picture above) from any garden supply store. It only costs a few dollars and is well worth your investment. A few plants, such as azaleas, need acidic conditions to thrive. Others, such as lilacs, prefer slightly alkaline soils. You can reduce the acidity of your soil by adding lime, but you should do this a few weeks before planting.

To access your soils drainage, dig a few holes randomly in your garden about 12 inches deep, and about 4 feet apart. Fill the holes with water and see how fast it drains. If the water disappears withing 24 hours, you have good draining soil. If not, you may have a drainage problem. You can correct this by digging deeply and adding plenty of well rotted organic matter and grit (like sand) to the soil.

You also should test your soil for nutrient content. You can get soil test kits from your garden suppliers as well. Just follow the instructions on the kit to determine your soil nutrient levels. There are a lot of ways to increase the nutrient level in your garden. Some include using fertilizers, but keep in mind that to much processed fertilizer can actually harm your garden, the ideal natural fertalizer is manure or compost. Natural organic fertilizer will add more nutrients to your soil without any of the harmful side affects of chemical ones.

Check your soil, and have fun with your gardening.