Soil 101: The basics

Along with sun and water, soil is one of the most important pieces of gardening. This blog post is going to cover the soil basics, how to tell what kind you have, and how to make it better to grow the garden you want.

Soil Types

• Sandy: drains quickly, doesn’t retain much water, often less fertile, sometimes contains larger particles
• Clay: contains tinier particles, holds water well, can become compacted easily, more fertile but often needs better drainage
• Silt: mediums sized particles, holds moisture but drains better than clay, usually fertile
• Loam: balanced mixture of sand, silt, and clay. Has good water retention and fertility. MOST IDEAL for gardening
• Peat: composed mostly of organic materials, very high in nutrients, retains a lot of water, found in wetlands
• Chalky: Contains very high levels of calcium carbonate, drains well, less fertile for certain plants.

Soil PH

• Acidic: Generally has a PH lower than 7.0. A PH level below 6.0 is moderately acidic while anything lower than 5.5 is strongly acidic. Some plants like blueberries, azaleas, and rhododendrons love acidic soil. Some hydrangeas can turn blue in acidic soil.
• Alkaline: A PH above 7.0 is considered alkaline. The more alkaline, the more basic minerals are present like calcium and magnesium. Plants the like alkaline conditions are lilacs, lavender, and yarrow. Certain hydrangeas will turn pink with alkaline soil.

How to know what you have

One of the easiest ways to tell what kind of soil you have is to do a soil test. This will tell you the PH of your dirt and what kinds of minerals are present. There are several online companies that do this. I’ve used THIS one here from My Soil. It was easy to do and they were quick to get results back.

Another way to determine your soil is by looking at its texture. Get a handful of moist dirt from your garden and squeeze it into a ball. Then try to form it into a ribbon by rolling and pressing it between your thumb and forefinger. If the soil feels smooth and forms a ribbon easily, you probably have a lot of clay in your dirt . It may be sandy if it crumbles easily with your finger. If it’s kind of in-between and can form a ribbon but crumbles easily, it is probably loam.

Darker soil usually indicates the presence of more organic stuff in it. This is good! Compost is very dark in color because it has so much organic matter in it. See the Compost 101 post for reference.

Drainage and the way it holds water is also a good way to tell what kind of soil you have. If water runs off of it quickly, it may be sandy. If the water kind of sits there and drains slowly, you may have more clay in your dirt.