Regularly replenish nutrients that your plant uses, this keeps the soil productive. The basis of the organic method is to feed the soil and the soil feeds the plants. Healthy organic soil promotes strong, insect and disease resistant plants.
- Ideal garden soil is dark-coloured, smells kind of sweet, will compress into a loose lump when moist and is full of earthworms. The soil on one side of your yard may be different from the soil on the other side. Some soils need more of a boost than others, before adding anything to your soil - do a soil test - this will give you the information necessary to choose amendments.
- As you gain more experience in gardening and caring for your soil, you become more aware that plants are an important factor in improving your soil. They add a considerable amount of organic matter to soil and their roots help aerate the soil.
Two common soil problems:
Caused by heavy equipment or foot traffic. If the soil is compacted you may want to give up trying to grow anything and make an official path with stones or bricks. If compaction is severe, you may have to aerate the soil or loosen it with a chisel plow.
Condition in which a layer of soil beneath the surface is hard and impenetrable by water or roots. To plant trees or shrubs in a hardpan area, you must bore through it to provide drainage.
Raised beds and container gardens may be used to overcome compacted or hardpan soil problems.