How To Fix Hard Garden Soil

Unlike sandy soil, clay soil holds moisture well—sometimes too well. Fine soil particles stick together, allowing little room for drainage or for air to reach plant roots. The solution is to break up the soil and add lots of organic matter such as compost, shredded leaves, peat moss and gypsum over time. Working wet soil will pack soil particles tightly, leaving less room for water and air to penetrate. Compacted soil also makes it more difficult for plant roots and gardening equipment to move through the soil.

The compression forms tight clumps of soil that become hard as rocks upon drying and are difficult to break up. Compaction is most likely to occur with heavier soils like clay and loam, but when heavy equipment is used, sandy soils can become compacted. These are soil particles that are packed closely together. The problem may be compounded by events that have happened to the soil over the course of years.

The pore spaces are reduced to the point that air and water cannot move freely and plant roots cannot grow easily into the surrounding soil. The soil could remain overly wet longer than is healthy for the plants growing there. Soil amendments are most commonly used in vegetable gardens and landscape beds. It is important to evaluate various types of soil amendments and determine which ones will provide the most benefit. This often leads to a combination of different amendments to supply organic matter, nutrients, and improve the soil texture.

There are many combinations but a good general-purpose ratio is one part composted manure, to three parts garden compost to one part soil conditioner. This amendment mixture can then be tilled in prior to planting. The addition of organic matter is beneficial but too much can be detrimental to plant health. Start with adding 25% by volume or 2 inches of organic matter into the top 6 inches of the soil. In addition to helping loosen heavily compacted soils and improve overall soil health, adding organic matter is a good way to improve both clay and sandy soils.

Aside from improving soil texture, adding organic matter can have other benefits as well. One of which is the addition of beneficial soil microbes, such as fungi and bacteria. These microbes help with plant nutrient uptake by making nutrients more available for root uptake. If you have heavy clay soil, adding compost will allow it to drain more easily. The organic material will also make the soil looser, allowing plant roots to grow more easily underground.

I always see things on how to work with sandy, silty, or clay soils, practically nothing on peat soils. I moved to an area this last Fall, that had a lot of glacier activity and is a meadow or grass land now. We would like to grow a garden, but we have black peat soil for about 14 feet down. I used a home soil test and found no nitrogen in the soil. There is some phosphorus and a small amount of potassium.

What should we do to our soil to be able to grow a vegetable garden and fruit trees? Use a spade to add about 2-3 inches of organic matter into the topsoil. Compost, animal manure, and peat moss not only improve the soil's moisture retention but they also attract worms that help water flow through the soil.

If you're dealing with heavy clay soil, use a mixture of sand and organic material to reduce waterlogging. The disadvantage of heavy clay soil is that it becomes waterlogged, with poor drainage and aeration. Gardeners with a heavy clay soil need to mix in some gypsum - a natural mineral. This helps to break up the clay and will improve its structure so that it forms crumbs that are easy to work. Add organic matter, such as compost or aged animal manures, because they're important for all soils. Some people will add dividers in their beds to separate the sections so they can cultivate different growing environments.

Coffee grounds are great for adding organic matter to the soil, improving drainage, water retention and aeration in the soil. Typically it is best to amend the soil for pH before the beds are planted so you don't risk burning the plants. Some people claim you can loosen clay by adding gypsum to it. The theory is that gypsum binds clay particles together to make bigger particles, providing more space for air, water, and roots. While this works to some extent, adding gypsum alone isn't enough for most gardens. The best way to loosen and improve clay soil is by adding lots of organic matter.

This heavy, often dark, smooth soil is made up of very fine particles between which there are small air spaces. It is difficult to cultivate, being sticky when wet, yet hard and even cracking, when dry. In situations where drainage is poor, plants can rot because of waterlogging and a lack of air around the roots. Clay is also a cold soil taking time to warm up in spring, which can slow a plant's root growth.

On the upside, clay is not only richer in nutrients than sand, but also retains nutrients and holds water well. To get the organic matter down to root level, use a garden fork to mix the material into the top 4 to 6 inches of soil. In vegetable gardens, which usually contain annual or biennial plants, you can amend your soil each season. Perennial gardens should be amended prior to planting so you won't disturb the plant roots. Many perennials must be dug up every few years for division, providing a good opportunity to work in additional organic matter. The best way to improve soil texture is by adding organic material, such as compost or peat moss.

Decaying organic matter helps sandy soil by retaining water that would otherwise drain away. And it corrects clay soil by making it looser, so air, water, and roots all can penetrate. Plus, in all soils it encourages beneficial microbial activity and provides nutritional benefits. Compost is decomposed organic matter, and it is the best thing you use to improve the health of garden soil. Chop over-wintered cover crops directly into spring soils a few weeks before planting. During the growing season, sow a quick-growing cover crop, such as buckwheat, to fill the gap between spring and fall crops.

When it's time to plant, pull the buckwheat cover and use it as a mulch for fall garden beds. Mulching – Clay soils can tend to speed water runoff because water isn't absorbed as quickly into clay soils as it is other soils. Clay soils also tends to stick to the bottoms of your shoes, which can make a mess when you go indoors. By adding a layer of mulch to clay soil, you not only help keep the house clean, but can reduce the number of weeds that sprout. As mulch decomposes,it will enhance nutrition and water retention, which ultimately allows for better plant growth. Mulch will slow down water run-off allowing clay soil more time to absorb, and store, water.

A layer of mulch is also cooler than exposed soil which helps to reduce temperatures overall in the garden. Adding organic matter is the best way to make your soil more loam-like and improve its structure. Another option is to build a raised garden bed and fill it with a well-balanced soil mix. Or take the simple approach by growing plants that do well in your soil type, such as choosing drought-tolerant plants for sandy soils. You can grow a garden successfully in any soil, as long as the plant's roots are accustomed to the conditions. Always, always, always add organic matter to your soil, even if you already have good soil.

Organic matter adds nutrients and improves the texture of the soil. Straw, chopped leaves, rotted manure, compost and mulch are all excellent forms of organic material that can easily be added. I don't usually plant in my garden during the winter, so I just toss these materials onto my garden over the winter.

In the spring, I incorporate them into the soil to spread out the nutrients and break up and hard clods. Clay's potential as one of the best soil types for plant growth lies in its unique properties. Managed well, clay soil typically requires less irrigation and less fertilizer, and leads to healthier plants all around. To fix compacted soil, which is soil that has little to no air space, break it up to make it hospitable for your plants again. Start by shifting livestock, machinery, vehicles, and foot traffic away from the compacted area to give the soil a rest. If you use the compacted area for farming or gardening, move your plants somewhere else for at least 1 growing cycle.

Instead, plant a cover crop, like winter wheat or ryegrass, to allow the roots to break up the soil. For smaller, grassy areas that are compacted, use a small metal garden fork to poke holes in the soil so air, water, and roots can enter the area. However, when tackling a larger area, use a rototiller with an aeration attachment. Gypsum is easily applied to the soil surface with a regular lawn spreader. It's an ideal amendment for improving soil structure and relieving compaction in existing lawns and gardens. Healthy soil typically is more than 40 percent pore space, with large pores that promote drainage and small pores which help store water.

This combination enables air and water to penetrate, promotes good drainage, and allows soil organisms to breathe and plant roots to grow. Machinery, foot traffic and pounding rain compact the soil and make life in the soil difficult. Compacted soils can flood and also be susceptible to drought, since water runs off rather than infiltrating. You can repair compacted soil by rebuilding its spongy structure.

About half of a healthy soil is made up of mineral particles like sand, silt and clay plus organic matter. That is the room for air and water movement around the mineral particles. Pore space is required in order to have a healthy environment for plant roots and beneficial microorganisms and earthworms to break down plant residue into organic matter. Bark products, such as finely shredded bark mulch is sometimes sold as a "soil conditioner". This material is meant to be incorporated into the soil to add organic matter deeper in the soil and help loosen compacted soils.

These products are excellent for adding organic matter to both clay and sandy soils. Soil mostly consist of solid particles like sand, silt, clay and organic matter. Moreover, the pore space is used for plant roots as well as is occupied by beneficial bacteria and organisms that promote healthy plant growth. Add plenty of organic matter each time you plant in your garden. Well-decomposed compost helps lower the pH of garden soil over time. It also improves the soil structure and adds beneficial micro-organisms into the soil.

Organic matter in soil serves as food for earthworms, insects, bacteria and fungi-they transform it to soil nutrients and humus. Through this decomposition process, materials are made available as foods to growing plants. In finely textured clay soils, organic material creates aggregates of the soil particles, improving drainage and making it easier to work. Earthworms are especially helpful in making and keeping soil porous and well draining, said Brewer. Bark, sawdust, manure, leaf mold, compost and peat moss are among the organic amendments commonly used to improve clay soil. Two or three inches of organic materials should be spread and rototilled, forked or dug into the top six or seven inches of your garden beds.

It can encourage the growth of weeds by bringing dormant seeds to the surface and exposing them to sunlight. It can disturb the beneficial burrowing activities of earthworms — the best free labor you can get for loosening and aerating your soil. It can also interfere with the activity of important soil microorganisms.

After that initial deep tilling, you can often let nature take its course to improve the structure of your soil. Walking on your lawn or garden when its wet is a common cause. Heavy, beating rains also drive clay particles together. Salts from fertilizers and winter de-icing solutions build up in heavy clay as well. Before planting every year, ensure sufficient nitrogen by counting all the sources you've added.

Organic fertilizers, such as blood, seed, or feather meal, are sources of concentrated nitrogen. Fall or spring legume cover crops transfer nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil. Manures or green grass clippings, incorporated as amendments, provide nitrogen as well. Compost, on the other hand, does not supply enough garden nitrogen. While compost is great for improving overall soil health, additional nitrogen sources are needed when using compost as an amendment.

For a large vegetable garden, another solution is to grow a cover crop at the end of the season, then mow and turn in the following spring before planting. The roots penetrate the compacted soil and loosen it. By mowing and turning the mowed tops in, the soil is additionally loosened. Cover crops could include annual ryegrass, winter wheat, winter rye, buckwheat, oilseed radishes and hairy vetch. Instead of gypsum, consider core aerifying in spring, summer or early fall to reduce the compaction and improve plant health.

Aerifying with large half-inch hollow tines and punching about 25 holes/square foot will produce good results. Very compacted soil can benefit from several corings each year . This does not minimize the benefit of have a high Ca and Mg level reading in your soil test, but coring does physically reverse a physical compaction of soil particles.

Yes, coring is an expensive service to buy, and most lawns really don't need it; but it won't hurt. And if the soil is compacted, it's usually the best solution to the stifled growth. If you have large fields that you typically plant row crops in, you would benefit from utilizing cover crops. Cover crops not only prevent your precious topsoil from eroding, but they can help fix some of the issues you have with your clayey soil. Clover, winter wheat and buckwheat can be planted as cover crops.

You'll be adding nutrients from the plants back into the soil. The organic material from the plants will also help to break up the hard texture of the clay soil. Your soil test or extension agent can help you determine the right amount of organic matter for your soil. Top-dressing planting beds with several inches of compost will improve lightly compacted soils. Earthworms and other soil fauna will gradually pull it down into the soil, loosening it and improving water-holding capacity. A 2- or 3-inch layer of shredded leaf mulch or wood chips will provide similar benefits.

Whether homemade or store bought, compost is one of the most common ways to add organic matter to soils. These piles should reach an internal temperature of 140 °F. The high temperature will kill most weed seeds and pathogens.

Compost is typically rich in organic matter and contains low amounts of nitrogen , phosphorus , and potassium , with a pH of 6 or 7. When producing compost on site, care must be taken to ensure proper aeration and moisture levels are being consistently maintained. For more information on troubleshooting compost piles, see HGIC 1600, Composting. Sandy soils tend to not hold on to plant nutrients very well. The goal of amending this soil type is into increase the nutrient holding capacity.