In order for your plants to grow well and flower profusely, or for you to receive a bountiful harvest, you need ideal growth conditions: good soil in connection with the right location. As a gardener, you can at least influence the quality of the soil.
Garden soil should be dug up regularly
Why should I improve my garden soil?
Only when the soil provides all the nutrients your plants need will they thrive. On the other hand, if one or more minerals are missing, growth suffers. The situation is similar when the soil is too dry or too firm.
What floor do I have?
Before you want to change anything on your floor, you should first determine how it is made. Form a handful of soil into a ball and roll it between your hands.
If the earth crumbles, you have sandy light soil. If it sticks, then the soil is loamy and heavy. Ideally, it's smooth and non-sticky and you have a perfect clay-sand bottom.
How can I improve my garden soil?
If your soil is very sandy, then rain and irrigation water run off well. Root rot will not occur. In addition, this soil warms up relatively quickly, which allows your plants to grow well. However, it also dries out quickly if it is dry for a long time. You can change this relatively easily by incorporating compost or leaves, or by mulching your beds.
Loamy soil stays cool for a long time and doesn't warm up until late, which hampers plant growth in spring. The solid soil structure is not exactly conducive either. In addition, clay soil stores a lot of water, which often leads to waterlogging and root rot. Work compost and/or sand into the clay soil, this will make it looser and more permeable.
With a soil analysis, you can determine a lack of nutrients in the soil and then fertilize your beds as needed. If you use a universal fertilizer, then keep in mind that over-fertilizing can also damage your plants.
The essentials in brief:
- Determine soil type
- Possibly carry out a soil analysis (have it done)
- only supply nutrients that are really missing
- general nutrient enrichment through compost possible
- Promotion of permeability by adding sand
tips
With well-rotted compost, you can both loosen up heavy soil and improve the storage capacity of dry soil.