Is there anything to complain about in your garden soil? Then don't expect the ornamental and useful plants to use inferior soil. Growth depression and bad harvests are inevitable. This guide explains how you can improve poor garden soil using simple means.
How to improve poor quality garden soil?
To improve poor-quality garden soil, you can enrich it with compost, bark humus or sand, optimize the pH value through liming and increase nutrient absorption with primary rock powder, perlite or coconut humus. Adjust the measures according to the specific soil type.
What characterizes good garden soil?
Ornamental and useful plants favor a balanced mixture of loam, clay, sand and humus. If these components are perfectly coordinated with each other, this garden soil pulsates with busy soil life as a basic requirement for magnificent, productive growth. High-quality garden soil has these properties to offer:
- Loose, finely crumbly and structurally stable quality
- Rich in important nutrients and valuable trace elements
- Deep and well-drained for unobstructed water drainage
- Fresh-moist to moderately dry without the threat of waterlogging
- Optimal pH value of 5.5 to 7.5
Use a hand sample to determine the exact type of soil. Form a handful of garden soil into a ball and then roll it into a sausage-like roll. Sandy soil crumbles and cannot even be formed into sausage. Clay soil feels smooth, does not stick to the palms and does not fall apart. Clay is smooth and sticky, forms a stable roll and has a shiny surface.
Improve inferior garden soil – this is how it works
If the soil in your garden does not come close to meeting the recommended requirements, you should improve the soil. This can be done using simple means. How to do it right:
- Garden soil that is too sandy: enrich it deep with compost or bark humus
- Compacted clay: improve with a third each of compost and quartz sand
- Stamped clay soil: dig two spades deep, enrich the excavation with ripe compost and sand
Only a few plants can thrive in acidic garden soil, such as rhododendrons and ericaceous plants. You can easily determine the pH value of your garden soil with a test set (€17.00 on Amazon) from the hardware store or garden center. If the result is below 5.5, lime the garden soil. Take this opportunity to improve the absorption capacity for nutrients by raking in primary rock powder, perlite or coconut humus on the surface and watering again.
Tip
Garden soil forms a promising partnership with coconut soil. Tomatoes, vegetables and ornamental plants benefit from a mix of coconut humm and loamy garden soil. Mix the excavated soil from a planting pit with coconut fiber in a ratio of 1:1. The result is a wonderfully airy, loose substrate with excellent water storage, perfect for all young plants.
