Understanding Your Garden Soil
Check The Soil Condition in Your Garden Guest Article by Stephen Drummonsy Pick up a handful of soil in your garden. I bet you are thinking, “this is ordinary, unexciting earth”. Yet it is one of nature’s miracle, and one of her most complex products. Your success as a gardener will largely depend upon its condition, so take the first bold step in gardening…. get to know your soil. All soils are composed of four basic components, they are: Water – Water is essential for the support of both plant and soil life – it is also the carrier of nutrients. Water is...
Read MoreSoil Indicators
Indicator species are also sometimes known as Soil Indicators. They are so characteristic of certain types of soil condition – either soil type or pH – that their simple presence can be used as an important clue as to the nature of the soil. It is more difficult to use soil indicators in an established, well-maintained garden, but even there, the sorts of weeds and problems the gardener reports can give some important clues as to soil type. Rhododendrons and azaleas, for example, will thrive in acid soil but look sickly and yellowing in alkaline soils. Similarly, many forms of...
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