Soil Care

Soil care is one of the most important parts of gardening. If you want healthy happy plants that shrug off pests and disease you need healthy soil.

Soil Types

The best soil is rich, dark and crumbly. It's a receptive medium for roots, it holds plant nutrients well and is free draining. Most soil unfortunately is not like this.

Clay soil: is heavy and dense when it's wet you can slice it into neat slabs, when it's dry the spade hits it with a clang and won't penetrate. The good news is that it's full of nutrients. Improving really thick clay soil takes time. The key is to dig in plenty of organic matter and add lots of gravel to add drainage.

Peaty soil: is dark, soft and moisture-retentive but in its natural state it lacks nutrients. All you need to do to this soil is add fertility. Keep digging in as much organic matter as you can. You will know the soil is ready for planting when weeds start to grow.

Sandy soil: is one of the worst to work with. It acts like a sieve and water and nutrients will wash through it at a great rate. Mix in large amounts of organic matter to bind the sand particles together. Try to avoid growing plants that need regular feeding or moisture lovers.

Chalky soil: limits what you can grow. Even if you improve the soil deep rooting plants will start to fail when they reach the lower untouched layers. Chalky soil is full of lime. Again dig in as much organic matter as you can.

Soil Conditioners

Soil conditioners are dug into the soil for quick improvement or are laid down as mulch around plants. Mulching suppresses weeds, retains moisture and supplies some nutrients to the plants and the mulching material will eventually be incorporated into the soil by worms.

For more information on preparing the soil for certain plants Click soil care