How to Improve the Quality of the Soil

Of course, the first step to making your soil healthier is to know what condition it is in. While most gardening or nursery centers will test your soil for you, the process requires only a simple, inexpensive soil testing kit, and can easily be done right out in your garden. If your enjoy gardening, then pick up a soil testing kit and become a DIY soil agent! That testing kit will measure the pH balance of your dirt, which stands for “potential Hydrogen,” and will let you know if there is a proper balance on the alkaline/acidity spectrum. If acidity is high, you will want to add calcium to the soil, in the form of lime. The key to producing healthy soil is to add large amounts of compost, which naturally brings pH into balance by moderating acids and boosting alkaline levels.

There’s more to high quality soil than pH balance. You also need soil that will hold some moisture, but not too much. In other words, sand is not good growing soil because water drains through it quickly before plants can absorb the moisture they need. At the other extreme, soil that is composed of too much clay will hold water against plant roots and will eventually produce rot, mold, or other conditions which threaten plants. If you have soil at either end of the range, the second step is to turn over the top 6 to 8 inches of soil and add to it a large dose of compost, mulch, and rich, dark, top soil. Turn, mix, and stir the soil until a new, healthy bed has been produced. Recheck the pH balance, and take measures to fix it, if needed.

The third step is to optimize the biology of the soil. Healthy soil is jam-packed with living organisms that affect plant growth. Good bacteria break down soil elements to provide good nutrition to plants. Therefore, it is wise to add organic elements that contain large amounts or living organisms. Quality manure from cattle, horses or rabbits contain high amounts of good bacteria. Find local, inexpensive sources of these manures and start by adding a little bit at a time to the soil, and see how plants respond. As the farmer or animal raiser you get the manure from what their suggestions are. In all likelihood, they use the manure on their own garden and will be a great source of helpful advice.

Compost is essential to soil health, so the fourth step is to have a quality compost pile going at all times. See our guides on compost for all of the details. The wonderful thing about compost is that it takes things normally thought of as waste – dead leaves, flower clipping and pruning material, and kitchen vegetable scraps – and turns them into the very life-blood of your garden. Savvy gardeners realize that nothing organic is ever waste, but can always be used to grow the next generation of flowers, shrubs, vegetables, or herbs.

The final step is to add mulch or ground cover around trees and shrubs that need higher water content. Mulch holds in moisture, so the roots of the plant have more opportunity to absorb it. Ground cover plants keep the hot sun off soil, which prevents the dirt from drying out before the larger shrubs and trees can make use of the water.

Improving the soil will lead to healthier more productive plants. It requires some trial and error, but by the end of the first or second gardening season, you’ll feel like a soil quality professional!

Related posts:

1. How to Mulch
2. How to Have an Organic Garden
3. How to Test and Adjust Soil pH
4. Flower Gardening Tips: Good Soil Produces Great Flowers
5. How to maintain indoor plants