What kind of dirt for garden

There are different soil uses for every garden, which is really what makes gardening for the first time feel difficult. However, with the right soil and the right questions, you can encourage the best growth possible in your outdoor garden. Topsoil vs Potting Soil The ingredients in potting soil are more specific to your intended growing environment because its contents are more consistent than topsoil.

Getting the best results In order to encourage growth in your outdoor garden, add anywhere between 2 to 3 inches of topsoil to your garden and mix the topsoil with the existing soil without covering the plants. It is very free draining and is always alkaline. Some plants, like lilacs, thrive in this situation. Clay soil is exactly what it says it is. It is very compact, and usually drains badly. It is also hard to work, and can be formed into balls by hand.

It is often baked hard in summer and waterlogged in winter, but at the same time, it contains a lot of nutrients. This is useful for the plants that can tolerate the conditions it offers. By adding material like grit and compost to this type of soil, it can be transformed into a superb gardening material.

Peaty mixes are very useful for certain types of plants. These include rhododendrons, and others that like acidic soil. Sandy earth is the hardest to manage, because it drains very quickly and most of the nutrients are washed away.

It is necessary to add organic matter and feed to this mix, and watering will often be a major job in the summer. On the plus side, it warms up quickly in the spring, and planting can begin a shade earlier than on land that is mostly clay.

Gardeners who live on the coast have to work with the land, and grow plants that have adapted to this very free-draining matter. The structure of earth is comprised of pieces of material, and spaces of air. Clay particles usually dominate, but it can also contain smaller particles like sand. These include:. These aggregates cling together, depending on their shape, and come in a variety of types.

When the aggregates bond together, the structure of the resulting soil really depends on the shape of the particles in the earth. There are other types out there as well. The amount of space between the individual pieces allows air and water to permeate the soil, and this helps to determine which plants will do well. If the structure is good and appropriate for a given species , plants will thrive. Texture indicates how the soil feels when the aggregates have bonded together. The shape of the particles, and how these building blocks come together to make the material that you are using in your garden, determines the way the soil performs.

The pH factor is something that some people find hard to understand, but it is simply the amount of acidity in the soil. There are lots of test kits on the market to test the acid level of a sample of earth. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options. By Jeanette Marantos Staff Writer. Tomato plant, left, alongside a wando pea plant grown by Yvonne Savio.

Yvonne Savio spreads coffee grounds into the soil at her garden in Pasadena. Savio will place the filters in the compost bin and spread the grounds in the soil. Chasmanthe plant grown by Yvonne Savio at her garden in Pasadena. Yvonne Savio works on her compost bin, a mix of green matter, clippings from the kitchen and brown matter. Remember the mulch Yvonne Savio uses water to melt the coffee grounds into the soil in her garden.

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