Find out what state your vegetable
garden soil is in and how you can improve it.
It's all very well having garden
soil to grow your plants in, but the type of vegetable garden
soil preparation and care your garden soil receives has a huge
bearing on the results.
Good healthy garden soil
supports strong productive plants by supplying abundant
moisture, nutrients and support as plants grow.
Your vegetable garden soil
should
- have a good well defined
crumbly open structure
- have good drainage yet
retain moisture
- be rich in organic matter
- be full of worms and other
life
- realise the full growth
potential of plants
Does your garden soil suffer
any/ several of the common problems?
- no structure
- dry and loose
- low organic matter
- compacted/ panned
- capped surface
- poor drainage
- water-logged
- biologically dead
- acidic
Plant symptoms that all is
not well with your soil include
- very slow/ no seed
germination
- poor establishment
- poor stunted plant growth
- yellow or discoloured
leaves
- stunted or fanged roots
- leaves wilt easily or
plants die early in hotter weather
- low vegetable yields
- vegetables/ fruits seem
tasteless
Causes of common soil
problems and plant symptoms include
- over cultivation can
destroy soil structure and deplete soil organic matter
causing surface capping, compaction, poor establishment and
growth
- over cultivation and lack
of consolidation causes soils to dry out and be loose which
is poor for seed germination and establishment
- compaction in clay soils
due to being worked or trampled when wet causes poor
drainage, poor stunted/ fanged roots and poor growth and
wilting and even early death if very dry
- acidic soil reduces
availability of nutrients and so starves plants and leads to
discoloured leaves and poor growth/ yield
- lack of biological
activity, organic matter and natural nutrients means poor
soil structure, poor growth and also poor taste of
vegetables and fruit
Solutions
- find out what problems you
have by examining your soil type and structure carefully
- improve your vegetable
garden soil preparation
- remove any soil compaction
- reduce the amount of
cultivation
- build up soil organic
matter and soil life by regular addition of bulky organic
material: compost, farm yard manure etc.
- consolidate the seedbed
after cultivation
- check soil pH and add lime
if necessary to ensure a pH of 6.5-7.5 ideally
Improve your soil and enjoy
your gardening.
Happy gardening.
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