Tuesday, 8 March 2022
How to improve your soil
Having healthy soil will make your garden more productive and it will require less effort to plant new things. However, not everyone knows how to achieve a healthy soil. In this article, we share the best recommendations to improve the quality of your soil.
The basics to healthy garden soil
Tools
Having good gardening tools is important for a healthy soil. It is always good to have the appropriate tools for plants for safety reasons. After all, no one enjoys blisters or scratches. Make sure to have a watering can, gloves, lawnmower, pruning shears, shovels, and rakes of various sizes. With all these elements on hand, it will be much easier and effective to amend your garden soil.
Grass
If you want to plant grass, you must plow the land with a rake, since this will remove the stones and the soil will be considerably more permeable. Once you aerate the lawn, you must firm it up by walking on it. To do this, you must use the heels of your feet or the base of the rake’s blade to make the task easier.
It is also advisable to blend organic fertilizers in your earth for additional essential nutrients. Grass and soil share a beneficial symbiotic relationship where the grass grows thanks to the nutrients of the soil, while the fibrous roots of the grass blades solidify the soil and protect the biotic matter found underneath the ground.
Irrigation
In the event that you do not have enough time to water the plants yourself, you can purchase an irrigation system. If you have a roof drain, you can build a pipe system that reaches the garden and uses rainwater. Another method that can make everything easier for you is to make a gutter around each plant to avoid having to water them one by one.
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What is organic matter?
Organic matter is chemically composed of carbon and its fundamental atoms. It integrates the first layer of the soil and is formed from the remains of decomposing living things and residues. This process provides plants with the essential nutrients they require.
Fresh organic matter is composed of plant remains and household waste. Throughout their life cycles, organisms release substances that are rich in nutrients and that are useful to promote a healthy soil once these substances are broken down. Compost is an example of organic matter.
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What does organic matter do for the soil?
The presence of organic matter guarantees good porosity, which favors the aeration and drainage of the soil. This allows plant roots to develop healthily and stimulates the activity of beneficial soil organisms.
The organic substance also has a great influence on the pH of the garden, causing it to become slightly acidic soil by accelerating the growth of microbial biomass that produces CO2. Also, the roots of many plants release organic acids such as oxalic acid, citric acid, etc.
When to improve your soil
If you are planting something new, it is always a good idea to improve your soil beforehand. This will ensure that you keep a healthy garden soil and that you won’t risk soil exhaustion, which is a loss of soil fertility due to the depletion of organic matter over time.
There are three main causes of organic matter depletion in soil:
- Reduced availability of nutritional elements
- Presence of root exudates in the soil
- Presence of pathogens and parasites that cannot be seen with the naked eye
What to use as a soil improver
Here are the three most common soil improvers:
- Compost
- Manure
- Peat
Compost
Compost can be obtained by transforming waste materials that come from the kitchen or your garden, with the addition of grass clippings, straw, manure, or wood ashes. Compost piles are very useful to improve the structure of the soil. On the other hand, if the soil is sandy and light, it can give it structure and body.
Manure
Animal manure, whether from sheep, cows, or goats, has a high nitrogen content and therefore can provide good fertilizer capacity and improve the chemical characteristics of the soil. If you do not have the opportunity to find fresh manure, you can always resort to dehydrated or granulated manure which can be bought in bags.
Peat
Peat is a type of soil made up of organic matter such as partially decomposed plant material including sphagnum moss and other acid-loving plants. Peat is used by gardeners to amend garden soil with low pH levels.
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6 ways to improve garden soil
The 6 ways to improve your garden soil:
- Compost
- Cover crops
- Monitor nitrogen levels
- Coffee
- Insects
- Make sure the soil is well drained
1. Compost
As you already know, fertilizer is made up of organic matter. You can take advantage of the waste from your kitchen and your garden to make compost. Once these organic matters have broken down, you can add them to your garden to bind the soil. Depending on the needs of your soil, you should add two to three inches of compost in the first year. Then you can add two inches of fertilizer to your garden every year.
2. Cover crops
Normally, gardens are destroyed when winter comes. This is because the soil is left bare and exposed, which often means nutrients are washed out. If this happens and you see the negative effects in your soil next spring, you may want to consider planting a cover crop. Cover crops are plants (such as wheat) that grow thick or spread out and cover the ground in which they are planted. By covering the ground, they act as a covering layer that protects it from bad weather.
3. Check nitrogen levels
When you add vitamins, nutrients, and minerals to the soil, they stick around for a while but eventually dissipate. Nitrogen is one of the easiest elements to escape from the soil. If you see that green plants are not as green as they should be, it is an indicator that they are lacking nitrogen in their soil.
4. Coffee
If you usually drink a lot of coffee and have accumulated ground coffee remains at home, you can take advantage of it to improve your garden soil. While there are many ways to recycle them, one of the best ways is to add them to your garden. This is especially beneficial if you need alkaline soil. The only thing you need to do is dump the coffee on your land. You will see that it will break down and help make your soil acidic.
5. Insects
You can buy worms or raise them yourself. You can add them directly to your garden or to your compost. In any case, they will contribute to establishing healthy garden soil. Earthworms are a great addition to your soil, as they can convert what you add to your soil into usable products that the soil needs in the form of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. In addition, their droppings are a natural binder for the soil.
6. Make sure the soil is well drained
To find out if your soil is well drained, you must dig a hole that is one foot deep by one foot wide. Then you should fill the hole with water and wait 10 hours. When you see that the water has completely drained, you should fill it up with water anew and time how long it takes to be absorbed by the soil. If the water isn’t gone after 3 hours, then your soil has a drainage problem.
Lawn care services
The best way to take care of your lawn if you lack expertise or time is to hire a team of professionals who will ensure that your garden and soil are healthy as can be. Vertdure guarantees the best price‑services‑products ratio. Our experts know the characteristics of the soil where you live and provide tailored-made solutions to any of your lawn problems.