Kellogg Garden Products ‚ Flower & Plant Fertilizer, Landscaping & Gardening Tips

Perhaps you're thinking that soil is the least fun part of the whole garden picture. But without a doubt, it is the most important. Poor soils account for the majority of garden problems: digging is difficult, nutrients don't do what they're supposed to do, growth is stunted and we get few blooms and lousy fruit and vegetables.

On the other hand, once you get your soil in shape these problems take care of themselves. Then gardening gets easy. And only then does it become enjoyable.

Each soil has its own basic structure that impacts quality and plant growth. Knowing your soil type helps you figure out what you need to get it in shape.

When we're talking soils we're really talking particle size: little itsy bitsy pieces of dirt that at one extreme are so small and tight that water and oxygen can't penetrate or at the other extreme are so large and far apart that the good stuff passes through faster than the plants can get at it.

Sand is the largest soil particle. It provides excellent drainage and oxygen (aeration) but little in the way of moisture or nutrient holding capacity. Plants growing in sandy soils frequently wilt from lack of water and become yellow and stunted from low fertility.

Sand particles per ¼ teaspoon = 5,000.

Silt is the next particle size. Water and nutrients pass through fast, but because it is smaller than sand, it often becomes compacted. If you're digging around say, for a vegetable or flower garden, silt will condense rapidly and push oxygen out. Yet it still drains so fast that plants suffer from a lack of moisture and nutrients.

Silt particles per ¼ teaspoon = 5,000,000. (That's 3 more zeros than sand)

Clay is the smallest soil particle: each so tiny and close together that even plant roots have a problem penetrating these soils. (Never mind your shovel) Clay holds water and fertilizers well but at the expense of oxygen. To complicate matters further, when there is no oxygen, fertilizers don't work and plants can drown.

Clay particles per ¼ teaspoon = 90,000,000. (That's a lot)

If you have loam you have something to celebrate because you're almost there. Loam is a combination of sand, silt and clay. In Southern California, the only thing that loam lacks is organic matter. (We're getting to that).

The easiest way to determine what kind of soil you have, is to make mud pies. Dig down six inches and get a handful of soil. Squeeze it tight in your hand. Open your hand.
If the soil immediately falls apart, it is sand.
If the soil holds together but falls apart when you touch it, it is silt or loam.
If the soil stays together no matter what, you've got clay.

Remember that you can have all three of these soils on the same piece of property.

In a perfect world your soil would be loam and 50% organic matter. But because that is so rarely the case for most California gardens, the gardener has got to get in there and even things up a bit.
Organic matter corrects sandy soils by holding water and nutrients. It corrects silt and clay by fluffing it up so drainage improves and oxygen becomes present. So use plenty of organic amendment to improve your soil structure. Still, that's not all amendments do.
The bacteria, earthworms and other critters that crawl around in your garden are really what feed your plants. It's a food-chain thing: humus goes in and out comes ingredients that combine with fertilizers to produce a product that plants really use.
To create a perfect place for plants, always dig your beds deep and use as much amendment as possible. Your plants will thank you with bigger flowers, luscious fruit, nice green leaves and a higher resistance to problems. And you'll discover that gardening is finally easier than you ever thought possible.

For more information on soil science, click here to read Establish Your Roots newsletter.