Gardening can be carried out as a hobby, which yields beautiful results in the form of flowers or green and fresh as well as healthy vegetables. Anyone who carries out gardening on a serious note needs to test the soil. The beautiful flowers of varied species adorning a garden can provide a magnificent view. The green kitchen garden gives us a fresh and calm feeling.
What Is Garden Soil?
The top layer of the soil is endowed with compost and other organic matter, thereby making it very nutritious for soil. It has a heavy texture with high water holding capacity, free from moss, perlite, and vermiculite. This is mainly used to plant and maintain flowering trees.
Soil Evaluation
Any serious gardener would like to know the soil type that he or she is working on. The kind of garden soil is determined and a crop ideal for such soil is planted, for which the raised bed or planters are created. Soil provides nutrients and minerals to plants, air, and water them for healthy development. Each plot of ground has a distinctive mix of organic and inorganic minerals that determine the kind of plantation that is suitable in that plot.
Evaluation of Soil Is Necessary for Gardening
Good productive and healthy plants require good garden soil. Good soil is one that retains water, has nutrients, and good drainage. To determine this, soil testing needs are done. Some testing methods include
Squeeze Test
Water Test
Settle Test
Acid Test
Types of Soil
The garden soil has been classified into six types each having its own characteristics and suitable for a specific type of plantation.
Clay Soil - It is lumpy and has a tendency to stick together. During monsoon it becomes wet and during summer it becomes rock hard. This is a fertile soil type with the only drawback being bad drainage capacity. Ornamental trees, shrubs, and fruit trees that grow well in this soil type.
Sandy Soil - This soil type has good drainage capacity and cultivation is easy and dries up fast. Owing to its loss of nutrients due to its high drainage capacity, it needs to be enriched with organic substances like glacial rock dust, green sand, and the similar shrubs and bulbs thrive in this soil.
Silty Soil - This soil type is very good as garden soil in case drainage could be provided to this nutrient-rich and fertile soil. This is soft and soapy to touch, which when mixed with composted organic matter improves drainage. Shrubs, climbers, and grasses are grown in this soil.
Peaty Soil - This is a dark, damp, and spongy soil with high acidic content. It has a very low decomposition rate and low nutrient levels. This soil gets heated quickly and a good drainage channel has to be created to drain out water. Shrubs like Camellia, Heather grows in well-drained peaty soils.
Chalky Soil - This soil generally overlays chalk or limestone bedrock. This is alkaline in nature with low water retention capacity. Adding humus is suggested to improve water retention and fertility. This garden soil can be used to grow trees, bulbs, and shrubs like Pink, Lilacs
Loamy Soil - This is the ideal garden soil, which could be used for lawns, growing shrubs, and other gardening delights. This is a fine-textured, soil with sand, silt, and clay evenly blend that is little damp. This is full of nutrients and has a good structure to work with and highly cultivable. This soil tends to be acidic. Shrubs, herbs, bamboo, perennials are normally grown in this soil type.
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