What Makes Good Soil for Gardening

The importance and quality of your soil as a gardener should not be underestimated, especially if you’re proud of your flowering plants an prize winning vegetables. Soil is one of the most variable components of successful gardening, and the soils composition will have an impact on decisions of what to grow.

Soil can be broken down into some relatively straightforward kinds, which, as a beginner in the garden or as someone who’s keen to understand the differences and how these affect plant growth, these should be understood.

The first kind of soil we’re talking about here is clay soil. Soils that are heavy in clay are called clay soils, making them more wet and sticky as well as heavy than many other types. Clay soils are prone to poor drainage because of the lack of air and therefore become waterlogged easily. In order to make clay soil easier to work with, sand could be added to loosen it up. Clay soils that have good drainage are heavy in nutrients, and plants will do very well.

Sandy soil is the exact opposite of clay soil being well draining and lower in plant nutrients. The addition of organic matter to sandy soil will enable it to retain moisture and plant nutrients making it a great for growing and easy to work.

Lastly, if you’re an enthusiastic gardener it makes sense to avoid chalky soil because these are the very worst quality that could be hoped for. Chalky soils are alkaline and are often full of stones which makes them drain rather quickly as well as preventing plants from getting the nutrients they need.

Other types of soil can be classed as peaty or silty, but here are the main kinds to look out for. Most can be used by the gardener, however chalky soils require so much additional input such as fertilizers and organic matter that they can seem pointless to work.