What kind of soil do I have?

The first thing to do with a garden to analyse the soil that is in place and see what it will take to get ideal. This sounds complicated, I realise, yet there are some very simple methods of finding out all things about soil on your own. The first test involves the texture we mentioned above. Grab a handful of damp soil out of your garden area. Now make it into a ball with both hands. Now, if you tap it and it falls apart, it is sandy. If, however, you tap it and it sticks together, and you can make a ribbon down it with a finger, it is clayish. Most soils are somewhere in between. What we are shooting for, in terms of texture, is called a sandy loam. It should be light and allow for water dispersal and it should have a bread crumb-like texture that will reflect the additions of organic material that will be required later. Adding sand does not change the texture of the soil. This is a formula for cement, lol. Small quantities are fine to add to a particularly clay soil, and vice versa for sandy soils. No, the answer in almost all cases is by mixing in sufficient quantities of organic materials.

Organic material is dead plant or animal material. There is always some organic matter in your soil, but usually not enough for a plant’s needs. Decaying organic matter, or humus, will help give your soil immeasurably. It helps sandy soil by retaining water that would otherwise wash away and it corrects clay soil by making it looser, so that air, water and roots can penetrate. In all soils, it encourages beneficial microbial activity and it provides some nutritional benefits. Humus is Nature’s way of feeding the circle of life.

How do you tell if your soil is good or not? There are some easy answers and some that require more work. First of all, how do the plants that have lived there up to now done? Maybe your property got lucky and was built over an older garden plot. Or perhaps you got unlucky and got your home put on the most solid clay base in the history of man. The obviously quickest way is to assess how things have grown prior. The “more work” alluded to above refers to the possibility of taking soil samples down to any one of the University Extensions or even nurseries who have the capacity to analyze it chemically. This is highly recommended, in fact. In almost all my professional projects, we take our soil down to have it analyzed. Many times it is free, believe it or not. Other times, it can cost $30 to have a company who specializes in soil analysis to have a gander. The truth is, you will get utterly reliable information from these people who do this every day. Once you have a read on what quality your existing soil is, then you are ready to adapt it to your needs.