Grow on a solid foundation, and you’ll provide wholesome, nourishing crops and lovely flowers every year.
Healthy plants and a healthy environment start with healthy soil. Less fertiliser and pesticide is required when the garden soil is healthy. Frank Tozer, a well-known author and gardener, notes that “when building soil you not only improve your plants’ health, but you can also improve your own.”
Healthy soil is the foundation for healthy plants and a healthy environment. When the soil in the garden is healthy, less fertiliser and pesticide is needed. Famous author and gardener Frank Tozer observes that “when building soil you not only improve your plants’ health, but you can also improve your own.”
How can you tell if your soil is healthy, then? And if it isn’t, what should you do?
Determining Soil Health
The three most significant elements are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium out of the roughly 17 elements estimated to be necessary for plant growth (see What’s in a Number?). Because plants extract them from the soil in the greatest quantities, they are referred to as main or macronutrients. Although complete fertilisers are marketed as having all three of these nutrients, they are scarcely complete in the strictest sense. Many plants also require the secondary nutrients calcium, magnesium, and sulphur. Boron, copper, iron, manganese, and zinc are among the less important or micronutrients. Some plant micronutrients serve unique purposes. For example, cobalt aids legumes in fixing nitrogen even though other plants don’t use it. Your soil’s pH reading, which measures its acid-alkaline balance, is another crucial aspect. All of these necessities Healthy soil has both the right texture and composition.
Testing
Testing your soil is one approach to find out what minerals are present in it in plenty or deficit. Soil tests at local Cooperative Extension Services are frequently inexpensive. These tests typically assess the pH, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, and occasionally nitrogen levels of the soil. They might also provide information on the micronutrient content of the soil, but a gardener who amends her soil with lots of organic matter won’t need this. Get a do-it-yourself version, like the Rapitest Soil Test Kit, for a less time-consuming test, and do your own straightforward, gratifying chemistry.
The pH levels can have a big impact on how well your plant can take in nutrients. Plants benefit most from having access to minerals and nutrients in soils with a pH of 6.5 to 6.8. No matter how rich in nutrients your soil is, if it has a low pH (at or below 6.0) or a high pH (above 7.0), the plants won’t be able to absorb the nutrients. The acid-alkaline balance of your soil can be determined on your own by purchasing a pH Metre, which is typically included with soil tests.
Soil Texture and Type
You should look at your soil’s texture in addition to learning about its pH, macronutrient content, and mineral levels.
The amounts of sand, silt, and clay in the soil determine its texture. On NASA’s Soil Science Education Page, you may find a helpful summary of the three basic soil components as well as an easy test to determine your soil type. The largest soil particles are made up of sand, which has a gritty texture. The silt particles, which are the next in size and are powdery while dry, are slippery when wet. Clay makes up the smallest parts. They prefer to stack together like plates or sheets of paper because they are flat. To determine soil texture, you don’t need to be an expert. Simply grab some and rub it between your fingers.
Simply take a small amount and press it between your fingertips. Sand is described as soil that feels grainy. Silty soil has a talcum-powder-like smoothness to it. The soil is heavy clay if it feels rough while dry and slick and sticky when wet. The majority of soils will fall in this range.
Since water and nutrients quickly drain through the wide crevices between the sand particles, sandy soils typically have low nutritional levels. Additionally, these soils frequently lack the organic matter and helpful microorganisms that plants need to thrive.
Silty soils are compact and poorly drained. Compared to sandy or clay soils, they are more fertile.
Heavy clay soils have a tendency to be dense, poorly drain, and hard and break when dry. There is typically not much organic matter or microbial life in the soil because there isn’t much space between the clay particles. Growing roots are challenging in the dense material.
Improving Garden Soil
The ideal technique to prepare soil for planting is to add organic matter in the form of compost and aged manure, or use mulch or cultivate cover crops (green manures). Chemical fertilisers should only be used to restore certain nutrients; they have no effect on keeping healthy, friable soil. Everything your plants require will be supplied by organic matter.
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Air
Plants require air, much like people do, both above ground for photosynthesis and in the soil. The soil’s air contains atmospheric nitrogen that can be changed into a form that plants can use. The life of soil organisms that help plants depends on soil oxygen.
A healthy soil has the ideal amount of space between its particles to hold the air that plants need.
Small, closely spaced particles make up silty and heavy clay soils. There is little air in these heavy soils. The issue with sandy soils is that the particles are too huge and widely spaced. The quick breakdown of organic materials in sandy soil is caused by an excess of air.
The optimal soil contains about 25% air, therefore adding organic matter, especially compost, will help balance the air supply. Additionally, try to avoid walking on the beds or using large machinery that could compact the soil. In case of really moist soil, avoid working it.
Water
Water is necessary for all living things, including plants and soil creatures, but not in excess or insufficient amounts. About 25% of healthy soil should be water.
Sandy soils have an excessive amount of pore space, which allows water to quickly drain through and prevents plants from using it. When water fills every pore space in thick, silty, or clay soils, the soil becomes waterlogged. Plant roots and soil creatures will perish as a result of this.
The best soils feature pore spaces that are both small and large. The greatest strategy to strengthen the structure of your soil by encouraging the development of aggregates is to add organic matter (see below). Organic matter also retains water, allowing plants to use it when they require it.
Soil Life
To have healthy soil, you need a healthy population of organisms. These tiny creatures link soil particles into aggregates that give the soil its loose, fluffy texture and make nutrients available to plants. Earthworms, nematodes, springtails, bacteria, fungus, protozoa, mites, and many more creatures can be found in soil.
Although some of these creatures can be bought and added to the soil, they won’t thrive if the conditions aren’t right. It is preferable to provide the food (organic matter), air, and water they require in order to establish an ideal habitat, then let them flourish on their own.
Organic Matter
Almost any soil will benefit from compost addition. After the compost has been mixed in, the texture of silty and clay soils, as well as their nutrient levels, are significantly enhanced. Any soil will improve with yearly treatments on top. You can manufacture your own organic compost at home, or you can buy it by the bag or the yard.
Compost and other organic compounds serve as aggregates that keep soil particles together and aid in moisture retention. Additionally, they take in and store nutrients that are later made available to plants, and compost serves as food for helpful microbes.
Creating your own compost can be as simple as placing green trash, like as grass clippings, on top of brown waste, such as straw and leaves. Turn the pile frequently and keep it moist.
There are a variety of composters and bins you can buy to contain your vegetable scraps and make turning a breeze if a pile is too messy or you are worried about mice and other animals getting into your pile.