How To Improve Soil Quality

Face the reality: we spend a lot of time and money planning perfect vegetables, herbs, flowers or plants to grow in our garden. Knowing the right varieties, planting them at the ideal time, and taking care of them carefully will form an outdoor space that we can be proud of.

However, if an important aspect of soil health is neglected, all these cultivation efforts will not produce the highest quality vegetation. In this article, Olle will tell you 10 tips to improve the soil quality to keep vegetation strong.

1. Dry the soil in spring

With the excitement of planting gardens or fresh green spaces all the year round, this neglected skill is sometimes the culprit of planting flowers in spring.

After spring rain or heavy watering at the beginning of the planting season, dry the soil area before introducing any new plants into the soil or planting plants in the soil that are already at home. Since topsoil requires air to function optimally, soaked soil usually compacts dirt and expels the necessary oxygen.

2. Test Your Soil

Just like in life, if you don't know your strengths and weaknesses, you can't always do your best and improve your weaknesses.

You can find the composition of the soil by testing and check the content of its key mineral components (such as nitrogen, magnesium and calcium). Using a simple test kit, collecting soil samples can remind you of what is missing. It is best to complete when the soil is not actively growing vegetation; This is a great off-season activity when planning to plant next year.

3. Add Something Missed

Now that you know what your soil lacks, plan to add what it needs. Natural additives in the soil can help balance defects, so don't automatically resort to chemical treatments alone (although these treatments are also effective)

To balance magnesium, sprinkle with Epsom Salt. To help improve low calcium levels, try adding lime, oyster shells or milk powder. Another natural remedy is to sprinkle wood ash on the soil with low potassium content.

Adding bone meal can also increase phosphorus content, while blood meal or fish milk can help balance nitrogen content in the soil.

4. Cover It

One of the best things we can do for the soil is to constantly provide it with fresh mulch. With the decomposition of green substances, the soil will absorb these substances, thus strengthening the soil. Premixed mulch is easy to find and apply to the soil. Using shredded nitrogen fixing plants as mulch is another excellent way to double use beneficial beans.

5. Naturally Recycle Clippings and Leaves

Don’t throw away grass clippings, trimmed branches, or raked up leaf piles. Instead, turn them into mulch to strengthen and add nutrition to the soil.

Grass clippings can be composted before being added to soil or added directly to the garden. Be careful not to use clippings previously treated with lawn chemicals if the soil is in a garden. Branches that can be wood chipped down to small pieces, and partially broken leaves are both great additions to improve soil health.

Returning your clippings and leaves back to the soil perfectly recycles natural elements, benefitting both the soil and the trash bin.

6. Add Worms

Generally, we think insects are pests. But when healthy soil is the goal, worms are what you want. Worms are excellent transporters of particles in the soil. They mix the soil and crawl up and down the stratum.

As a supplement to mulch, worms are natural mixers of soil when eating mulch. When worms move from one place to another, they also add oxygen and create space for the soil to absorb water in the dirt gaps they leave behind.

7. Use Green Manure and Cover Crops

Consider adding nutrients to the soil during non growing seasons, which will improve soil health through new planting. Green manure, similar to green substances added as mulch, is the practice of planting plants beneficial to soil but not directly beneficial to growers.

These plants are allowed to grow and then die naturally without being removed or removed. Dead plants then decompose and contribute directly to the soil, and their ability to add specific nutrients, such as nitrogen or phosphorus, is often chosen.

Covering crops are off-season crops planted in the soil, with the clear purpose of preventing soil erosion. Without planting crops or grass, the barren soil is often washed away without the anchor provided by plants. Covering crops such as wheat and winter grass can strengthen the soil by keeping the nutrient rich topsoil under their control, so as to make the subsequent growth season more effective.

8. Rotation of annual crops

Changing plants helps maintain a healthy balance of ingredients. Change where you put each plant in the garden so that nutrient deficiencies do not cause problems for the soil. By rotating the residents in the soil, it is natural to maintain a better balance with fewer interventions.

9. Weed Management

Invasive weeds are a challenge for every gardener as well as one for the soil composition. However, weeds can be beneficial to the soil if they are used under a layer of mulch during off-season soil preparation times.

Noxious weeds, like nettle or ragweed, should be removed safely from the soil so they don’t leech vital nutrients from the soil in competition with beneficial or wanted plantings.

10. Go Organic

Finally, organic or natural soil treatment agents should be used whenever possible. Chemicals can be a quick treatment solution, and sometimes the soil needs just the substances you can find that have been mixed and ready for use in ready to use mixtures. When you add chemicals to fix something, you may create new problems in the process.

The use of pesticides such as pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers can cause fragile soils to lose their natural balance. When you want to create healthy soil, it is the best idea to use organic solution first.