For those who enjoy gardening with plants, shrubs, flowers or vegetables, the one of most important aspect is the quality of your soil. The soil make-up can vary drastically from one area to another, and this can make a real difference to what you decide to grow.
If you’re a novice gardener or are trying to understand the main differences between different types of soil, then there are some basic types which you can learn about.
Firstly we’ll look at clay soil. Soils that are heavy in clay are called clay soils, making them more wet and sticky as well as heavy than many other types. Clay soils are prone to poor drainage because of the lack of air and therefore become waterlogged easily. Clay soil is difficult to work unless adequate compensation is made by the addition of sand to loosen it up. Clay soils that have good drainage are heavy in nutrients, and plants will do very well.
Sand heavy soils are often much thinner and grittier than clay soils, draining well and offering less nutrients for plants Sandy soil with a good organic matter content should be able to hold enough moisture and nutrients to make it very successful as a growing medium.
Finally, chalky soil is a gardener’s nightmare and if possible it should be avoided if you’re a keen gardener. Soil with a high alkaline chalk content usually contains many stones that often lead to dry soil and it also doesn’t let plants get the nutrients they need.
The main kinds of soil then to look out for are listed here, but you can get others like silty and peaty. Almost all soil can be utilised by skilful gardeners, but chalky soil can require so many additional nutrients and organic matter that it makes the job seem worthless.
Posted under Miscellaneous Content
This post was written by admin on September 4, 2010
