Understanding Your Garden Gold – Soil Care

Healthy soil is the foundation of a successful garden. Soil gives plants structural support and provides them with air, water and nutrients, which are essential for plant growth. By understanding and managing your soil effectively, you can create a thriving environment for your plants to grow.

Different plants flourish in different soil types and identifying what type of soil you have can help you to understand soil behaviour and its influence on plant growth. It can also guide you in choosing the right plants for your garden and help you take steps to improve and nourish your soil.  Here’s our guide to identifying and making the most out of your soil.

How to Identify Your Soil Type

To identify your soil type, perform a soil ‘ribbon test’:

1. Gather a handful of soil from your garden, removing any rocks and leaves.
2. Gradually add water, a little at a time.
3. Roll the soil in your hand until it forms a ball.
4. Gently squeeze the soil to form a ribbon shape.

If you can create a bendable ribbon and it feels malleable, you have clay soil. If the soil crumbles, feels gritty, and doesn’t form a ball, you have sandy soil. If you can form a ball but it disintegrates when trying to make a ribbon, you have loam soil.

Soil Components

Soil is made up of four main components: mineral particles, organic matter, water, and air. The proportion of these components significantly affects the soil’s properties and suitability for different plants.

1. Mineral Particles: Includes sand, silt, and clay, determining the soil’s texture.
2. Organic Matter: Decomposed plant and animal material that improves soil structure and fertility.
3. Water: Held in the soil’s pore spaces and essential for plant growth.
4. Air: Roots need air to breathe, and healthy soil has good air circulation.

Soil Texture and Structure

Texture refers to the size of the soil particles. Sand has large particles, silt has medium-sized particles and clay has very fine particles. Structure refers to how soil particles clump together. The structure of the soil affects the growth of plants because it influences the movement of water, air and nutrients.

Soil pH

Soil pH measures the acidity or alkalinity of the soil, which can affect nutrient availability to plants. Most plants prefer a pH between 6 and 7. You can test soil pH with a home testing kit and adjust it using lime to raise pH or sulfur to lower pH hose reels designed for any size garden.

Types of Soil and Care Tips

Clay Soil

• Characteristics: Dense, retains water, often becomes compacted, and slow to drain.
• Care for clay soil
  • Add organic matter like compost to improve drainage and aeration.
  • Incorporate gypsum to break up compacted clay.
  • Avoid working with clay soil when it’s wet to prevent further compaction.
  • Water deeply and slowly at infrequent intervals.

Sandy Soil

• Characteristics: Light, well-drained, dries out quickly, low in nutrients.
• Care for sandy soil
  • Add organic matter to improve water retention and nutrient content.
  • Use mulches to reduce evaporation and regulate soil temperature.
  • Regularly water in smaller amounts to maintain moisture.

Loam Soil

• Characteristics: Balanced mix of sand, silt, and clay, retains moisture well, good drainage, fertile.
• Care for loam soil
  • Maintain with regular additions of organic matter.
  • Avoid overworking the soil to preserve its structure.
  • Water deeply but infrequently to encourage deep root growth.

Silty Soil

• Characteristics: Smooth and slippery when wet, retains moisture, prone to erosion.
• Care for silty soil
  • Add organic matter to improve structure and drainage.
  • Use cover crops or mulch to prevent erosion.
  • Ensure proper drainage to avoid waterlogging.

Heathy soil is the key to a healthy, thriving garden, so why not nurture your garden from the ground up and watch your plants grow like never before.