Introduction

I always thought that gardening was about the plants—that’s why, when my garden looked like it had gone to seed and needed some TLC, I went out and bought a bag of Miracle-Gro. Well, that was before I learned that the life of a garden is more than just its blooming flowers and leafy vegetables. It turns out you need healthy soil if you want your food crops to grow into robust plants with deep roots. And while it may seem simple enough to just add some compost or fertilizer when planting, there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to building up your garden’s soil health. So what can you do?

Your garden’s soil is a living thing that changes throughout the year.

In this article, we’ll explore how your garden’s soil is alive and what you can do to help it thrive.

The first step in understanding soil is to understand that the word “soil” means different things to different people. It’s a little ambiguous because it comes from the Latin word solum, which means “earth.” The definition of soil varies depending on whom you’re talking with:

• A scientist might say that a given sample of earth contains many different types of minerals, as well as living organisms like bacteria and fungi.
• An environmentalist might tell you about how much carbon dioxide has been sequestered into this area over time by trees and other plants.

Healthy soil means you’ll enjoy healthier plants, especially those that are vulnerable to common pests and diseases.

Healthy soil means you’ll enjoy healthier plants, especially those that are vulnerable to common pests and diseases. Healthy soil is a living thing; it’s teeming with microbes that feed on decaying matter and help plants grow. It also provides nutrients for the plants’ roots to absorb, as well as water for them to drink! Healthy soil has good structure (so it won’t crumble), can hold in oxygen (so your plants can breathe!), serves as a source of support for everything above ground, and helps prevent erosion by absorbing rainfall.

Soil is truly an incredible resource—one that contains almost everything you need to grow healthy veggies or flowers!

Always test your soil before preparing it for planting.

The best way to determine the type of soil you have is through testing. Soil test kits are inexpensive and easy to use, and can be found at your local garden center. Follow the directions on how to use a soil test kit, which involves taking a sample of soil from various places in your yard or garden. You then send off this sample for analysis, and get back results on pH (how acidic or alkaline it is), nitrogen (the amount of organic material in your soil), phosphorus (a secondary nutrient that helps plants grow) and potassium (also known as potash).

Use the results of your soil test to determine what amendments it needs.

Once you receive the results of your soil test, use that information to determine what amendments are needed. The report will tell you how much of each mineral or nutrient is in your soil and how long a waiting period before planting would be appropriate. For example, if your soil is short on phosphorus, then it may need to be added now; but if it needs more potassium or nitrogen, then adding them now could lead to burning new plants.

Introduce organic matter to improve the structure of clay or sandy soils.

Organic matter improves the structure of clay and sandy soils by providing air spaces for roots to breathe. If you have clay soil, it’s compacted, dense, and water drains through quickly. Adding organic matter helps add air pockets that will help improve drainage and keep moisture in for longer periods of time.

If you have sandy soil, it is loose and crumbly because there are no large particles to hold it together. Organic matter helps create larger particles that can hold sand together while still allowing water to drain through easily.

Cover bare soil with compost or other organic amendments by broadcasting them over the surface, then tilling them lightly into the top few inches of soil.

The next step is to apply the compost or other organic amendments by broadcasting them over the surface, then tilling them lightly into the top few inches of soil. This can be done with a broadcast spreader, which spreads material in all directions from its wide opening. If you have access to a tractor-drawn rototiller with a tine attachment (or even better, a front-mounted disk), you can till in your amendments as you till up your beds during spring and summer garden preparation.

If you aren’t able to use these tools for applying compost or other organic amendments, there are still ways that you can incorporate them into your garden. For example, if there are large areas of bare soil between plants where weeds grow easily and strongly emerge from seed each year—a common situation in vegetable gardens—you may want to add some mulch such as hay or straw around those areas before planting so that weeds don’t become established on these bare patches in springtime when it is too late for chemical based herbicides like Roundup® weed killer.”

Use a commercial soil additive as a more effective alternative to compost if your garden will be planted in pots.

If you want to make your own compost, that’s great! But if you don’t have the space or resources to do so, there are other ways to improve the quality of your soil.

If you’re going to be planting in pots rather than in a garden bed (or if your outdoor plants are on their way out for the season), it can be hard to get enough compost for proper fertilization. This is especially true if you live in an urban area where green waste collections are limited or nonexistent. Compost can also be expensive and difficult to find; transportation costs may make it even more expensive than buying soil additives at a local store—and transporting organic matter over long distances takes time and energy away from other important tasks. Finally, storing large amounts of compost can be tricky since it takes up space while also attracting pests like rats and mice who would love nothing more than free food scraps!

So what’s an urban gardener supposed do? The answer: use commercial soil additives as an effective alternative instead!

You can have a much better garden by improving your soil with natural additives.

You can have a much better garden by improving your soil with natural additives. The soil in your garden is a living thing, and it’s important that you take care of it. You can do this by adding organic matter to the soil or commercial soil additives.

Organic matter is usually found in compost, which is made from decaying leaves and other organic materials. It breaks down over time into nutrients for plants, but it also helps prevent compaction of the soil. Other sources of organic matter include:

• Worm castings (a good source of nitrogen)
• Composted manure (high in phosphorus)
• Kelp meal (high in potassium)

Conclusion

We hope this information has helped you to make your garden more productive, and to know what it needs to thrive. As you can see, the process of improving your soil is really quite simple—but the results are often profound. By following these basic steps, you’ll be able to grow healthier flowers and vegetables that are resistant to pests and diseases. Not only that but you’ll also have great success with any new plants in your garden