Gardening Soil and Their Many Types

Soil type is one of the most important parts of gardening, especially if you love your plants, vegetables and blooming floral displays. Soil is one of the most variable components of successful gardening, and the soils composition will have an impact on decisions of what to grow.

New gardeners and people wanting to learn the key types of differing soil could do well to remember the basic descriptions of soil.

Firstly we’ll look at clay soil. Clay soils are called so because they are heavy in clay content, which makes them heavy, sticky and often wetter than other soils. Poor draining soils are often found to contain heavy clay content, meaning they become water-sodden much more easily. Clay soil is difficult to work unless adequate compensation is made by the addition of sand to loosen it up. Clay soils that have good drainage are heavy in nutrients, and plants will do very well.

Sandy soil is the exact opposite of clay soil being well draining and lower in plant nutrients. Sandy soil with a good organic matter content should be able to hold enough moisture and nutrients to make it very successful as a growing medium.

Avoiding chalky soil is sound advice for gardeners because these soils make for poor quality. Chalky soils are alkaline and are often full of stones which makes them drain rather quickly as well as preventing plants from getting the nutrients they need.

Other types of soil can be classed as peaty or silty, but here are the main kinds to look out for. Almost all soil can be utilised by skilful gardeners, but chalky soil can require so many additional nutrients and organic matter that it makes the job seem worthless.