Does every plant die in your garden? Maybe the nature of the earth is not right. This is how you enhance sandy or loamy soil.
Are you dreaming of a wonderfully colourful blooming garden – but you just don't want to grow a plant? Maybe it's because you have unfavorable soil. In the sandy soil, the water seeps away too quickly and washes out nutrients. Loamy soil is too firm: there is no place for roots, and the water accumulates. Nevertheless, you do not have to do without a pretty planting. For every soil there are plants suitable for the location. There are also many methods of soil improvement.
How to know what soil your garden has
Solid, sticky clods of earth indicate a loamy soil. © YAY Images/Imago
The first step to a beautiful bloom is to determine the soil. For this, you can do a spade test: on a small piece, remove the turf and pierce about 30 centimeters into the ground with the spade. There you will now check what the soil is like. Often, however, it is enough to knead a small amount in your hand. If the earth immediately disintegrates, the soil is too sandy. If the ball remains firm, sticky and moist, the soil is very loamy.
Improving loamy soil
Work on good soil begins in the fall: if the soil is not too wet and not yet frozen hard, dig it up. If it freezes over the winter, the hard clods of earth are expanded and blown up. This loosens the soil. Now you can mix in sand or perlite so that the soil is better ventilated. If the soil is decidedly too moist, a professional must be involved: a landscape gardener carries out drainage and drains the water. Green manure is also a good method. To do this, sow certain plants that loosen the soil with their roots. Lupins and sunflowers are well suited. Once these have faded, simply dig up the remains. This ensures natural humus.
These plants also feel comfortable on loamy soil
Don't have the time or inclination for costly soil improvement? These plants also thrive in solid soil or clay soil:
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Soil improvement in sandy soil
If the soil is too loose, many plants lack nutrients. So that's where you need to help. Again, green manure is a good solution. Ideal plants are lupins, clover and vetches. To take good care of the plants, you should fertilize well in the spring. Compost preserves the valuable humus layer. Therefore, you should incorporate organic matter into the soil. One way to maintain humus levels is to make nutrients with the bokashi bucket.
Plants that thrive on sandy soil
Some flowers and perennials cope well with sandy soil. These include:
- Grass lily
Common broom
Dyer's broom
Large-flowered mullein
Thyme
Lavender
Cauliflower mushroom
Blueberry
Balancing the pH value in the garden
The soil is not always too firm or too loose – sometimes the pH value is simply not right. To determine this, you can send soil to a laboratory. But it can also be done at home: take some soil from soil ten centimeters deep. Dissolve them in distilled water. After a few minutes, you will be able to read the pH value using a test strip.
- A value below 5.5 is too acidic. Lime the soil in the spring to deacidify the soil, for example with a mixed soil conditioner (promotional link).
At a pH above 7, the soil is alkaline. Mulch the beds in the fall to make up for it.
