Facts about Soil and How to Prepare Your Soil

Facts about soil: what you should know

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The best type of soil has loose, crumbly texture. You can compare its texture to a piece of cake held in your hand. One easy way to test this is to put about a cup of damp, not wet, soil into the palm of your hand. Make a ball of soil pressing only hard enough to make the soil stick together. Next, gently bounce the ball up and down in your hands with a rocking motion. Loamy soils will crumble partially, but sandy soils fall apart. Clay soils will stick together. This is called soil texture and soil structure.

For a quick and easy in home test to find out what type of soil you have, according to the National Gardening Associations book, Garden Essentials, you can do the "jar test".

Simply dig down 4 inches to get a 1/4 cup soil sample. Place the soil and 2 cups water in a clear glass quart jar or plastic drink bottle. Add a few drops dishwashing detergent. Shake the jar vigorously for one minute. Set the jar aside and let the contents settle. After the water clears, which may take up to 24 hours, look at the layers under bright lights. Coarse sand particles settle on the bottom. The next layer is silt and the top layer, some of which may still be suspended in water, is clay (yellow brown, red or tan). Organic matter ill float to the tip.

Here is how to analyze what you see:

• Sand: If over half of the total is sand, you have a light, sandy soil.
• Silt: If over half of the total is silt without much clay, you have heavy silt.
• Clay: If one-fourth of the total is clay and you have a fair amount of silt, you have clay soil.
• Loam: A good loam will show as two-fifths sand, two-fifths silt and a narrow band of clay

What grows in each?

Carrots and root vegetables grow well in sand. But they dry out fast and high level of fertility is hard to maintain. Clay soils are hard to work with and remain wet until late spring and they tend to compact and form a hard crust after a rain.Most vegetable crops prefer well-drained loamy soil.

Another fact about soil is that soil should also have an acid/alkaline (ph) balance which is appropriate for the type of plants you are growing.It also needs soil-enhancing creatures like worms, and balanced nutrient supply.

Very few gardens start out with good soil. You must learn what kind of soil you have by taking soil samples and having them tested by your local extension service. To find the closest extension service go to the USDA web site at www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html You might be amazed at the wealth of information that you can find at this web site.

Why should you care about your soil?

The bottom line is that your garden is only as good as your soil. One time during the winter, my husband Alfred, dug up every plant in our perennial garden just so he could amend the soil. That spring we could really tell the difference. For a special report on soil that is a must read if you want to have a successful garden, sign up for our newsletter on the form below. You will be sent an email confirming your registration along with a password that allows you access to this special report.

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Facts about soil: what is it anyway?

Soil can be different things to different people. Kids might like to make mud pies with it. Excavators might just consider it something to be moved and Engineers might consider it just something to be built upon. For those of us who like to garden, it is considered something to be developed and cultivated so that we can grow some magnificent plants.

Technically, soil is made up of 45 percent inorganic minerals, 20 to 30 percent water, and 5 percent organic matter. These inorganic minerals are also called rock particles. The rock particles are classified according to their size. Sand is composed of the largest particles, clay is the smallest, and silt (loam) is in between the two.

The spaces between the rock particles contain air and water. The best soils contain an equal amount of each. This is important to you because it directly effects the drainage of your garden. With too much drainage, plants can dry out too fast and cause you to have to water more. With too little drainage, plants can become over saturated and plants may become permanently wilted.

The organic material (humus) in soil can be living or dead. Microorganisms, soil animals, plant debris, and roots are all part of the soil's organic matter. Your garden needs humus soil in order to be healthy and to produce healthy plants.

Good soil is a must if you want to have a good garden!