Types of Soil - What Types of Soil Are Best to Use in Your Garden?
Plant roots basically need air, water, and nutrients for a plant to grow well.
Soil needs to be loose and friable in order to be able to hold air and water.
Sandy soils allow for great drainage and aeration, but do not hold water or nutrients at all.
Clay soils on the other hand can hold water and nutrients, but air cannot easily move through it and plants can suffocate due to compaction and lack of aeration.
Many people falsely think that by adding sand to clay soils or adding clay to sandy soils they can fix the problem.
What actually happens is a huge mess when the clay packs into the sands opening and produces a concrete like substance that nothing can grow in.
So this leaves the question of how to improve soil so that plants will grow stronger and healthier.
I suggest doing it the way nature does.
Adding layers of organic material and composting.
This two step approach starts by growing your own soil by planting a cover crop.
A cover crop is simply a crop that you do not harvest.
Instead of harvesting the crop you cut it down after it is mostly grow and leave it on top.
This layer will decompose slowly and release soil nutrients, and block the growth of weeds.
Also it will feed microorganisms that live in the soil and attract earthworms.
Over time the worms will carry the organic matter deep into the ground producing a deeper rich layer of soil.
Not all plants make good cover crops though.
Clover, rye, beans, corn, hairy vetch all make good cover crops.
If your soil is real bad you may need to grow two cover crops before your regular plants will grow well, but after that you only need to just grow a certain percentage of your garden space as a cover crop each season.
This will help keep your garden soil healthy and suppresses weeds and erosion.
The other thing I suggest everyone do is to start a compost pile and add worms to it.
Any compost is better than none, but the worms make it richer and seem to help release otherwise "tied up" nutrients.
Most scraps coming out of the kitchen can be composted and then the compost will add nutrients into the soil, helping to keep the plant nutrient cycle going.
Soil needs to be loose and friable in order to be able to hold air and water.
Sandy soils allow for great drainage and aeration, but do not hold water or nutrients at all.
Clay soils on the other hand can hold water and nutrients, but air cannot easily move through it and plants can suffocate due to compaction and lack of aeration.
Many people falsely think that by adding sand to clay soils or adding clay to sandy soils they can fix the problem.
What actually happens is a huge mess when the clay packs into the sands opening and produces a concrete like substance that nothing can grow in.
So this leaves the question of how to improve soil so that plants will grow stronger and healthier.
I suggest doing it the way nature does.
Adding layers of organic material and composting.
This two step approach starts by growing your own soil by planting a cover crop.
A cover crop is simply a crop that you do not harvest.
Instead of harvesting the crop you cut it down after it is mostly grow and leave it on top.
This layer will decompose slowly and release soil nutrients, and block the growth of weeds.
Also it will feed microorganisms that live in the soil and attract earthworms.
Over time the worms will carry the organic matter deep into the ground producing a deeper rich layer of soil.
Not all plants make good cover crops though.
Clover, rye, beans, corn, hairy vetch all make good cover crops.
If your soil is real bad you may need to grow two cover crops before your regular plants will grow well, but after that you only need to just grow a certain percentage of your garden space as a cover crop each season.
This will help keep your garden soil healthy and suppresses weeds and erosion.
The other thing I suggest everyone do is to start a compost pile and add worms to it.
Any compost is better than none, but the worms make it richer and seem to help release otherwise "tied up" nutrients.
Most scraps coming out of the kitchen can be composted and then the compost will add nutrients into the soil, helping to keep the plant nutrient cycle going.
