Healthy Soil Means a Healthy Garden
If you’re getting ready to go on a new garden venture, you need to prepare
your soil to ideally house your plants. The best thing you can do in the
soil preparation process is to reach the perfect mixture of sand, silt,
and clay. Preferably there would be 40 percent sand, 40 percent silt, and
20 percent clay. There are several tests used by experienced gardeners to
tell whether the soil has a good composition. First you can compress it in
your hand. If it doesn’t hold its shape and crumbles without any outside
force, your sand ratio is probably a little high. If you poke the
compressed ball with your finger and it doesn’t fall apart easily, your
soil contains too much clay.
If your soil content is still a mystery, you should be able to separate
each ingredient by using this simple method. Put a cup or two of dirt into
a jar of water. Shake the water up until the soil is suspended, then let
leave it alone until you can see 3 distinct layers. The primary layer is
clay, the next is silt, and on the bottom is sand. You should be able to
judge the presence of each component within your dirt, and act accordingly.
After you’ve analyzed the content of your soil, if you decide that it is
low on a certain ingredient then you should definitely do something to fix
it. If dealing with too much silt or sand, it’s best to add some peat moss
or compost. If you’ve got too much clay, add a mixture of peat moss and
sand. Moistened peat will help your new ingredient to
infiltrate the mixture better. If you can’t seem to manage to attain a
proper proportion, just get in the car and have a talk with your local nurseryman. You should
most certainly be able to find what you need to correct the problem.
The water content of the soil is another important thing to consider when
preparing for your growth area. If your garden is at the bottom of an incline,
it is most likely going to absorb too much water and drown out the plants.
If this is the case, you should probably elevate your garden a few inches
(4 or 5) over the rest of the ground. This will create more drainage
and less saturation.
Enriching your soil with nutrients is also a cornerstone of the process, in that
urban soils have little to no nutrients already in them naturally. One to
two weeks prior to planting, you should add a good amount of fertilizer to
your growing area. Combine well and let it sit for a time. Once you
have done this, your soil will be completely ready for whatever seeds you
determine you want to plant.
Once your seeds have bee planted, be sure not to ignore your soil.
At first, your seeds are very nutrient hungry
around them to sprout into a real plant. If they run out of food, how are
they supposed to grow? About a week after planting, you should add the
same amount of fertilizer that you added before. After this you should
keep using fertilizer, but less frequently. If you add a tiny bit every
couple of weeks, that should be plenty to keep your garden thriving.
Basically, the entire process of soil care can be compressed into just
several steps… ensure the makeup of the soil is satisfactory, make sure
you have proper drainage in your sowing area, add fertilizer before and after
planting, then fertilize on a regular schedule. Follow these simple
steps, and you’ll have a plethora of healthy plants in no time. And if you
need any more details on an individual step, just go to your local nursery
and enquire there. Most of the employees will be more than happy to give
you advice.
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