The top 8-10 inches of soil, where plants' roots live, determine the success of your gardening efforts. An ideal soil from a plant's perspective is 50% soil matter and 50% open, or pore space (which should be half-filled with water and half left open for air). Clay soil, and soil near recent construction, is often too compact to allow roots to "breath." Adding organic matter to the soil lightens soil structure (also called "tilth"). Soil structure is how the individual clay, silt, and sand particles are arranged, and is impacted by factors such as organic matter. Clay without organic matter is like a flattened deck of playing cards.
Adding organic material jumbles the cards, permitting water and oxygen to enter the soil. Soil amendments are materials that are worked into the top several inches of soil, to improve drainage and loosen the soil where plants grow. Organic soil amendments can make a world of difference in heavy clay soils.
Organic matter breaks down fast in our warm climate, so beds will need regular additions of soil amendments to maintain good soil structure and fertility. Peat moss and sand are NOT recommended for improving clay soil, and purchased topsoil is frequently no better than your existing soil. Purchased topsoil is useful for creating raised beds, but for most landscaping needs, it is better to amend the existing soil with organic materials. If you do bring in topsoil, be sure to mix it thoroughly with the native soil. If new soil is just spread over clay, plants will not root into the clay, and the plants will dry out in hot weather.
Be aware that unsterilized topsoil may contain weed seeds. All organic materials will eventually decompose in soil and therefore must be renewed from time to time, especially in annual flower and vegetable beds that are continually cultivated. Clay soils benefit from organic matter too, because it improves their structure by binding clay particles into crumbs; this allows better air and water movement.
By adding coarse sand to heavy soils you can make a permanent improvement in their texture. Spread the sand to a depth of 5–8 cm, then mix well into the topsoil to a depth of 15–20 cm. The best way to improve soil texture is by adding organic material, such as compost or peat moss. Decaying organic matter helps sandy soil by retaining water that would otherwise drain away. And it corrects clay soil by making it looser, so air, water, and roots all can penetrate. Plus, in all soils it encourages beneficial microbial activity and provides nutritional benefits.
Sawdust or wood chips, leaf mould, peat moss, coffee grounds and fresh manure will all do the job, but expect to wait many weeks or months to see results. Agricultural sulphur can be quicker acting but it may still take several weeks to do its thing and isn't as effective as organic material over time. I always see things on how to work with sandy, silty, or clay soils, practically nothing on peat soils. I moved to an area this last Fall, that had a lot of glacier activity and is a meadow or grass land now.
We would like to grow a garden, but we have black peat soil for about 14 feet down. I used a home soil test and found no nitrogen in the soil. There is some phosphorus and a small amount of potassium.
What should we do to our soil to be able to grow a vegetable garden and fruit trees? Another organic gardening tip to steal from farmers is the idea of growing cover crops. Also called "green manures," these cover crops include plants such as barley, yellow mustard, clover and hairy vetch. Depending on what you grow, home gardeners can use these cover crops to add organic matter, suppress weeds, prevent erosion, fight plant diseases and aerate the soil.
Some cover crops including barley are good for growing in fall/winter; others such as buckwheat will smother weeds in a summer garden. Organic soil is rich in humus, the end result of decaying materials such as leaves, grass clippings and compost. Good organic garden soil is loose and fluffy — filled with air that plant roots need — and it has plenty of minerals essential for vigorous plant growth.
It is alive with living organisms — from earthworms to fungi and bacteria — that help maintain the quality of the soil. Proper pH is also an essential characteristic of healthy soil. Well rotted composts and manures will be relatively poor in soluble nutrients but rich in insoluble ones. On most soils they are best incorporated by cultivation in spring just before growth starts.
However, autumn application can also work on all but sandy soils. On a garden scale it is often feasible to cover vegetable beds with a plastic sheet to shed excess rain and retain valuable nutrients. To feed the soil, and improve its structure, use bulky materials like garden compost compost, rotted manures or leaf mould. These materials release nutrients slowly, improve soil conditions, and stimulate essential micro organisms.
Growing green manures is another organic technique for soil improvement. Liquid feeds can help your plants in times of stress, mycorrhizal fungi improve root nutrition uptake and worms will sort out your soil. Finally, you may like to try the No Dig method - which uses thick mulches to suppress weeds.
When we moved to 'rock hill', I just gave up the first year or two growing in the ground and started my new garden in tubs and buckets. As those gardens produced I was working in starting new beds and building them up as organic materials became available as we worked the new territory. 🙂 Clearing brush allowed for some big hugelkulture beds that are now starting to produce in years 3 & 4 here. Clearing some overgrowth and raising the canopy gave us sunlight – that lil' essential most plants needs. Clearing some of the brush allowed us to pile it in hedgerows that prevent erosion and give wildlife a place to live.
We are following that old saw "Inch by inch life's a cinch, yard by yard, life is hard." We are eating this elephant one bite at a time, one season at a time, one project at a time. Not having a bunch of money to throw at the problem all at once we grow incrementally. Fruit tree layer first, then we had a shrub planting year, then a perennial plant year, etc. Adding organic matter is the best way to make your soil more loam-like and improve its structure. Another option is to build a raised garden bed and fill it with a well-balanced soil mix. Or take the simple approach by growing plants that do well in your soil type, such as choosing drought-tolerant plants for sandy soils.
How To Fix Poor Garden Soil You can grow a garden successfully in any soil, as long as the plant's roots are accustomed to the conditions. Composting, adding organic material, rotating crops and growing cover crops will all help improve soil quality in your garden. Even if you only practice a few of these tips you'll go a long way toward building the type of soil where plants thrive and grow happily. Grow cover crops in your garden in the fall after harvesting. Cover crops like cereal rye, annual rye and hairy vetch do well in Missouri conditions.
Cover crops help improve soil structure, reduce soil erosion and increase water movement through the soil . Leguminous cover crops such as hairy vetch perform better when inoculated with rhizobium bacteria, which fix a significant amount of atmospheric nitrogen into a form plants can use. Clay's potential as one of the best soil types for plant growth lies in its unique properties.
Managed well, clay soil typically requires less irrigation and less fertilizer, and leads to healthier plants all around. To get the organic matter down to root level, use a garden fork to mix the material into the top 4 to 6 inches of soil. In vegetable gardens, which usually contain annual or biennial plants, you can amend your soil each season.
Perennial gardens should be amended prior to planting so you won't disturb the plant roots. Many perennials must be dug up every few years for division, providing a good opportunity to work in additional organic matter. The disadvantage of heavy clay soil is that it becomes waterlogged, with poor drainage and aeration. Gardeners with a heavy clay soil need to mix in some gypsum - a natural mineral. This helps to break up the clay and will improve its structure so that it forms crumbs that are easy to work.
Add organic matter, such as compost or aged animal manures, because they're important for all soils. Sometimes, the effort or expense of modifying a soil to fit our needs is just too much. This is often the case in places with heavy clay soils that do not drain.
In other cases, the soil may be very thin, with rock just underneath. These challenges make raised beds are worthy of consideration. For a closer look at raised bed gardening in Oregon, try this guide from OSU. Before planting every year, ensure sufficient nitrogen by counting all the sources you've added. Organic fertilizers, such as blood, seed, or feather meal, are sources of concentrated nitrogen.
Fall or spring legume cover crops transfer nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil. Manures or green grass clippings, incorporated as amendments, provide nitrogen as well. Compost, on the other hand, does not supply enough garden nitrogen.
While compost is great for improving overall soil health, additional nitrogen sources are needed when using compost as an amendment. Adding organic matter in the form of compost and aged manure, or using mulch or growing cover crops , is the best way to prepare soil for planting. Adding chemical fertilizers will replenish only certain nutrients and do nothing for maintaining good, friable soil. Organic matter will help supply everything your plants need. Clay soil and sandy soil both benefit from the incorporation of compost.
Good quality compost will feed your soil, which in turn will feed your plants. Compost is rich in microbial life, which transforms the nutrients and minerals from the compost and your soil into a form that plant roots can readily utilize. Adding compost to a sandy or clay soil significantly improves the soil structure, which in turn makes plants healthier. You can increase the amount of organic matter in your soil by adding compost, aged animal manures, green manures , mulches or peat moss.
Because most soil life and plant roots are located in the top 6 inches of soil, concentrate on this upper layer. To learn more about making your own compost, read All About Composting. Chop over-wintered cover crops directly into spring soils a few weeks before planting. During the growing season, sow a quick-growing cover crop, such as buckwheat, to fill the gap between spring and fall crops.
When it's time to plant, pull the buckwheat cover and use it as a mulch for fall garden beds. In addition to incorporation into the soil, applying organic matter as mulch is beneficial for many flowers, vegetables, trees and shrubs. Top-dressing of lawns may be done with good topsoil or topsoil–organic material combinations to smooth out irregular areas in the lawn or help decay thatch.
Adding a few inches of topsoil does not generally improve the texture or performance of heavy clay and poorly drained soils unless it is done in combination with core aerification. Cover crops are a temporary planting, usually sown in the fall, that help protect the soil from wind and erosion and add valuable organic material. They also establish a dense root structure that can have a positive effect on soil texture. Cover crops also suppress weeds, deter insects and disease and help fix nitrogen. When the crops are turned into the soil, they become green manure .
Organic dry fertilizers are mixed into the soil according to the directions on the label and then watered. They work more slowly than liquid fertilizers, but last longer. Fertilizer blends contain different amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Other fertilizers may contain bat guano, rock phosphate, molasses or other ingredients.
There are dozens of recipes for making your own organic fertilizer. Good soil provides just the right space between its particles to hold air that plants will use. Silty and heavy clay soils have small particles that are close together.
Sandy soils have the opposite problem; their particles are too big and spaced out. The excessive amount of air in sandy soil leads to rapid decomposition of organic matter. Gypsum is easily applied to the soil surface with a regular lawn spreader. It's an ideal amendment for improving soil structure and relieving compaction in existing lawns and gardens.
It can encourage the growth of weeds by bringing dormant seeds to the surface and exposing them to sunlight. It can disturb the beneficial burrowing activities of earthworms — the best free labor you can get for loosening and aerating your soil. It can also interfere with the activity of important soil microorganisms.
