The supporting pillars of high-quality garden soil include a loose, well-drained structure. In order to improve compacted garden soil, knowledgeable gardeners get help from the plant world. This guide explains how you can easily loosen poor-quality garden soil with green manure.
How to loosen garden soil naturally?
To loosen garden soil, you can use green manure with deep-rooted plants such as lupins, marigolds, sunflowers, valerian or winter rapeseed. A green manure seed is sown between May and October to loosen the soil and later incorporate the plants as green mulch.
Deep roots loosen garden soil
Pelting rain, construction work or pattering children's feet leave behind compacted garden soil. Exhausting digging and raking only loosens the soil temporarily. You can achieve a long-lasting loosening effect with the help of deep-rooted, native plants. A positive side effect is a decoratively landscaped garden while ornamental and vegetable plants are in hibernation.
Special seed mixtures (€9.00 on Amazon) for soil-loosening green manure can be purchased from specialist retailers. Native plant species such as lupins (Lupinus), marigolds (Calendula), sunflowers (Helianthus), valerian (Valerianoideae) and winter rapeseed (Brassica napus) have proven to be ideal.
Loosen dense garden soil with green manure - this is how it works
The time window is open from May to October to improve compacted soil using green manure. How to plant the seeds professionally for rapid germination and rooting:
- Rake the garden soil with a harrow
- Removing stones, roots and weeds
- Ideally apply a layer of compost soil and sand as a seedbed
- Spread green manure seeds with a spreader or by hand
For good soil contact, walk over the seedbed with a lawn roller or work the seeds in superficially with a rake. The later in the year you sow a green manure, the larger the seed quantity. Finally, water the garden soil with a fine spray and cover the area with a close-meshed protective net.
Clear the bed professionally
After 4 to 12 weeks, the green manure plants have fulfilled their duty and loosened the soil thoroughly. Cut off the vegetation with a lawn mower, scythe or brush cutter. The clippings are left as mulch for some time so that they dry out. Only then do you work the green mulch into the garden soil. After a waiting period of three to four weeks, you can plant the loosened garden soil.
Tip
On a new building plot, ornamental and useful plants have a bad hand. Before you create a new garden next to your home, the area is filled with topsoil. The layer of humus garden soil should be at least 25 to 30 centimeters thick so that plants thrive vitally and he althily.
