Soil Science

Posted by Zoe Woodward Garden and Flowers on

In these videos we will discuss Soil PH, Soil Structure and Soil Horizons. All three have an impact on the plants you can grow in your soil.

Soil pH

Before investing in your garden it’s important to check you soil conditions to check to see which plants will not only grow but will thrive. In this video I explain soil pH and how you can check and test.

Soil Structure describes the way the individual soil particles such as Clay, Loam, Sand, Silt, or Organic Matter are arranged and the pore spaces between them that hold the water and air vital for plant life. A balance of soil water and air is also vital for supporting beneficial soil organisms.

Soil Horizons

When inheriting a garden or allotment, moving into a new development or even taking over a field, it is important to dig a little deeper and check your soil horizons. Buried rubbish or rubble are easily hidden by a ‘green rug’ of a lawn. You might have a compacted clay layer creating an underground ‘pan’ or even find your grass is laid over a concrete carpark which will cause your garden to flood and deeper rooting plants to die.

So as well as checking your soil type and soil pH its also important to dig a little bit deeper and check just ‘What lies beneath’!

Planting ‘Out Out’

The first plants of the season are going out into the garden. They are cold hardy so will tolerate a frost or even snow.

In this video I show you how we compost and recycle all our spent plant material.

Drainage

Water and Air compete for space between the soil particles. I’m order to keep the balance it’s vital that containers have adequate drainage.

You can add Wood Ash from your winter fires to your garden.
Planting

Soil Science 3rd February 2024 – Preparing beds for planting

We have grown intensively back to back in the poly tunnel for a number of years and while we have always added compost for soil structure and fertiliser for soil nutrients between plantings the soil will still slowly be degraded from what it once was. Time to replace the top soil layer!

15th February 2024

Garden Catch up and more on preparing beds for planting

Following on, the garden is coming back to life, the Ranunculus and Anemones are doing well and we start preparing the outside beds for planting the hardy annuals and getting out all the weeds!