Like me, you may be caring for an old, beloved garden surrounding an old and beloved house. You may face the same frustration I felt a year or so ago when it seemed my favorite shrubs and flowers stopped flourishing, produced fewer blooms, generally looked a bit tired. I fertilized; I replanted, and still my garden remained lackluster.
Then I talked with a local landscape-gardener. She observed that the original type of soil might not have been the best and with age the soil in my flower beds may have become compacted, needing aeration and helpful microbes. She suggested I check the condition of my garden’s soil. She pointed out that if the soil was tired, worn out from years-and-years of planting, fertilizing, mulching, the soil may need restoration—a spa date, of sorts.
Here’s a two-part prescription for perking up the garden and its plants:
- Determine your garden’s soil type and its condition: Depleted of nutrients? Compacted? Under or overwatered?
- Consider a composting system for your tired garden soil. (Caution: Composting does not replace fertilizing.)
Whether you use a gardener, a gardening service, or do the work yourself, you may want to know how to identify the type of soil in your garden and, generally, the soil’s condition. Some problems are fairly easy to correct.
6 basic soil types and their characteristics:
LOAM: the ideal soil for gardens – a blend of clay, sand, and silt
CLAY: high in nutrients, wet and cold during winter, baked and dry during summer
SANDY: low in nutrients – dry, warm to hot, fine particles, often acidic
SILTY: varied nutrients levels – light particles, retains moisture, easily compacted
PEAT: high in organic matter, moist
CHALKY: low in nutrients, drains freely, usually alkaline (high pH level)
Identify Soil Type: “Touch-and-Roll”
If you don’t want to get involved with sophisticated lab tests, here’s a simple way to get a general idea of the type of soil in your garden.
Grab a handful of soil in the area you’re testing. (You may find different soil types in various places in your garden.”)
Squeeze the soil in your palm to form a roll.
Observe the color and granules, and watch for any organic matter, such roots and tiny bugs and worms. Organic matter is a plus, indicating your soil is alive and breathing.
Note that:
- Sandy soil won’t roll. It’ll remain gritty.
- Clay soil will be sticky if wet or hard if dry.
- Silty soil will not have clumps. It will feel slippery and even soapy, if damp.
- Peat will feel squishy, dark in color, rolls into a mushy mass.
- Chalky soil will be powdery and dry with little to no organic matter.
Testing the condition of your soil for fertility and contamination
Basic Soil Test: For definitive information on your soil, seek a professional Soil-Testing Lab. (Farmers rely on these labs; you can too.) You’ll find information about Soil-Testing Labs and their locations at https://www.extension.umd.edu/resource/soil-testing-and-soil-testing-labs/
These labs usually need 2 weeks to return results and charge from $10–20 per soil sample.
Using a lab will ensure you have accurate information about things like phosphate, potassium, magnesium, and your soils pH level (acidic to alkaline.) The results are called the “TILTH” of your soil. (Just to impress your gardener or the lab tech.)
Accurate lab testing may also save you the cost and effort of unnecessary treatments and conditioners for your garden’s soil.
Do-It-Yourself Soil Evaluation: If you simply want a general idea of your garden soil’s condition, here are some suggestions…
Look for earthworms. They’re a great indicator of good soil aeration and biomass.
Smell Test,: Hold that handful of soil to your nose. Is there a pleasant, earthy scent? That’s called GEOSMIN, and it comes from the good bacteria in healthy soil. Our human noses have evolved to be exceptionally sensitive to that earthy smell in even small concentrations–perhaps because our food sources depend on healthy soil.
Soil organisms: Dig a 6” deep hole; stare down into it for 4–5 minutes. Count the activity: beetles, centipedes, spiders, etc. (You can even poke about the sides of the hole with a small stick.) If you count fewer than 10 organisms, that’s a bad sign.
Underwear Test: (I like this clever test.) You’ll need a pair of 100 percent cotton briefs, a shovel, a marker flag or something to mark the spot.
- Dig a narrow trench 6” deep.
- Bury the briefs with the waistband sticking out above the soil.
- Mark the spot with a stick or flag. (I know that seems unnecessary, but just wait and see.)
- Leave the buried briefs for 2 months.
- Dig up what’s left of the briefs and rinse off the soil.
- If the briefs have disintegrated and there’s not much left, that’s a GOOD SIGN. It means lots of tiny organisms were at work munching away, turning that cotton into nutrients for your garden’s soil.
Now that you’ve figured out the condition of your garden’s soil, let’s talk composting.
Composting does not replace fertilizer. It improves your soils condition—less compacted and more biomass. There’s a lot of information about composting: the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, let me just review some basics.
Basic Rules of Composting
Figure out first what you plan to use the compost for and where you can locate the compost pile or composter bin.
Oxygen is central to successful composting, so plan to aerate your compost material often.
Smelly? That’s an indicator that the compost needs more air. Turn or stir it.
Water composting material so it retains a moisture content between 55–60 percent. (I think you’ll just have to figure out what is a reasonable moistness for your compost.)
It’ll take about a year before your compost will have cured enough to be applied to the garden’s soil. It will eventually look like crumbly, dark earthy stuff; then it’s ready to be used.
Monitor the temperature of the composting material. Keep it under 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Add nitrogen to cool the material.
I hope this information helps, whether you’re planning to do the work yourself or hire folks to do the hard parts, you probably want to understand what work you’re paying for and how to make sure you are getting the information and material your garden soil needs.
