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How to Determine Soil Type and Fix It

jdds08 | Aug 31, 2009 | Views: 133 |

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Soil type and overall health has an impact on the success of whatever is growing in it. Some plants require a rich, loamy soil, others require a sandy soil and still other perform better in soil higher in clay content. You don't have to frustrate yourself trying to figure out soil type or pay to have it done for you. There are some very simple steps to answering this question. Improving the soil type takes more work though and doesn't happen overnight.

Things You Will Need

Water

Your hand

compost

sand

Top soil with added organic matter

Internet access

Step 1 To determine what type soil you have, wet some and squeeze to make a ball of it in your fist.
If it will not ball up and falls apart, you have sandy soil.
If it balls up and stays that way, you have soil high in clay.
If it balls up but falls apart when poked, congratulations, you are one of the lucky ones who has loamy soil.
Step 2 Loamy soils consist of approximately 40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay particles. These soils are high in nutrients and rich in organic matter. They drain well and are easy to work with. If you don't have loamy soil, you will need to amend the soil to improve it. This doesn't happen overnight but there is hope.
Step 3 You can buy topsoil that has compost added to it to give your soil a jumpstart. Most garden centers will carry this. You will need to use quite a bit of it though. It takes a few years to fix soil problems. It doesn't matter if you have sandy soil or soil high in clay particles, it takes time and patience to fix it. Continue to mix organic material into the soil at the start of every planting season.
Step 4 You can still plant in this soil, just use plants that will do well in the soil type so you don't get frustrated. There are some companion planting techniques that also aid in developing soil health. Planting alfalfa will break up hard soils, marigolds will leave behind nematode fighting agents for years after they no longer grow in the spot, beans will affix nitrogen to the spot, yarrow can be used as a mulch and adds beneficial organic matter back into the soil, the list goes on. With a little research you can find plants that will address your specific soil type issues.

Tags: soil type; determine soil type; fix soil; garden; gardening;