Healthy soil is the key to supporting healthy plants. Not many of us are lucky enough to have a rich loam to work with. Every soil can benefit from organic amendments to improve either the soil structure, nutrients, or pH. The difficulty is figuring out what the soil needs, how much, and how and when to incorporate it.
- Amending your soil can be fairly complicated if you are interested, but most of us want to improve the soil just well enough for ordinary planting. Those of us with extreme conditions, such as compacted clay or sand, may want to amend the soil enough to make it fertile- The texture of your soil is one of the first things you need to address. How your soil feels tells you the size of the soil particles, which will indicate how your soil holds moisture and how much air is available to roots in the soil.
- There a many different amendments that can be considered for your soil. Some are best to improve the soil structure of sand, some for clay. Some are quick acting, some or long lasting. Some are good for maintenance.
- Plants need several different nutrients that can be derived from organic sources or chemica sources. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (or potash) are the nutrients in standard chemical fertilizers, N-P-K. These, and calcium, magnesium and sulfur are necessary for your plants to thrive.
- Different plants need different pH levels or ranges to thrive. 5.5 to 7.5 is considered an optimal, neutral range for most plants, an environment that allows nutrients to be available to plants most readily. Micro-environments, specific planting areas for acid or alkaline loving plants, may need pH adjustments to provide the best environment. Likewise, soil in geographic areas may tend to be acidic or alkaline, in which case general adjustments may need to be made.
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