Description and Types of Soil
Don’t be afraid to work with the soil!
Fertility is a combination of essential nutrients and a pH that makes these nutrients available to the plants. Texture refers to the size of the soil particles and their cohesiveness.
Nutrients
The three primary nutrients used by plants are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Nitrogen is largely responsible for healthy leaf and stem growth. In the soil, nitrogen is made available to plants by nitrogen fixing bacteria which convert nitrogen into nitrates, a form plants can use. Nitrogen does not remain in the soil for long. It gets used up by your plants and by decaying matter in the soil. It is also water soluble and can wash out of the soil rather quickly. Even so, an excess of nitrogen will cause a lot of foliage growth at the expense of flowers and fruit.
Phosphorus is very important for root growth. Flowering bulbs and root crops can always use some phosphorous. That’s why bone meal is often recommended for fall bulb planting. It also is crucial for producing flowers and you will sometimes see fertilizers with a high phosphoreus content advertised as flower boosters.
Potassium is needed for overall plant health. It keeps the plants growing and aids their immune systems. Like nitrogen, potassium is also water soluble and needs to be replenished from time to time.
Besides the three primary nutrients, there are several trace elements that are necessary for good plant health like: calcium, magnesium, zinc, molybdenum, etc.
pH
A lot is made of soil pH. In laymen’s terms, pH is a measure of the soil acidity or alkalinity. The scale goes from 1.0 to 14.0, with 7.0 being neutral. The lower the numbers go from 7.0, the more acidic the soil. The higher they go above 7.0, the more alkaline. The reason soil pH matters is that nutrients in the soil are only available to plants if the soil pH is within a certain range. Many plants like a pH in the low acid to neutral range (6.2 – 6.8), but that’s not true for all plants. Rhododendrons, heathers and blueberries favor very acid soils and lilacs and clematis will thrive in alkaline or even chalky soil. The only sure fire way to know where your soil’s pH falls is to have it tested. Keep in mind that it takes time to alter soil pH and your soil will tend to revert to its old pH over time, necessitating repeated treatment.
Texture
Soil texture is a little trickier to amend than soil fertility. Texture refers to the size of the soil particles. Sandy soils have very large particles. Water, air and plant roots can move freely in sandy soils, sometimes too much so. At the other end of the spectrum is clay. Clay particles are so small they pack together tightly and leave little room for water, air or roots. If you’ve ever tried to garden in baked clay you know it also leaves little room for a shovel blade.
An easy test for soil texture is to make a ball of damp garden soil. If it breaks apart when you tap it, it’s sandy. If you can press it between your thumb and finger and make a ribbon, it’s clay.
Most soils are somewhere in-between. What you are ideally going for is called a sandy loam. It should be light and allow for air and water movement, but have some tilth, a kind of fine bread crumb like texture, which usually occurs when there is plenty of organic matter in the soil.
Don’t try to change your soil texture by adding sand to clay or vice versa. That is a recipe for cement. Some amendment recommendations for clay do include a portion of very fine sand, but there are better ways to change your soil texture.
Organic Matter
Like soil pH, organic matter gets a great deal of press. Organic matter is dead plant or animal material. There is always some organic matter in your soil, but usually not enough for a plant’s needs. Decaying organic matter, or humus, will help give your soil tilth. It helps sandy soil by retaining water that would otherwise wash away and it corrects clay soil by making it looser, so that air, water and roots can penetrate. In all soils, it encourages beneficial microbial activity and it provides some nutritional benefits. Humus is natures way of feeding the circle of life.
There are many types of soil:
A
1. VEGETABLE GARDEN
First, make sure the soil is good for planting. Then comes the seeding and fertilizing (if needed). The most common vegetables that are planted in a “vegetable garden” are: beans, broccoli, asparagus, carrot, cucumber, onion, peas, potatoes, radicchio, spinach, sweetcorn and tomatoes. A beautiful and healthy garden depends on the soil, pests, good caring and weather. The quantity of vegetables that you grow depends on how big is your cultivating space.
Alphabetical list of vegetables:
a) Leafy and salad vegetables
GOOD LUCK!!!
____________________________________________________________________
2. FLOWER AND HERB GARDEN (ornamental garden)
A flower garden is any garden where flowers are grown for decorative purposes. Because flowers bloom at varying times of the year, and some plants are annual, dying each winter, the design of flower gardens can take into consideration to maintain a sequence of bloom and even of consistent color combinations, through varying seasons.Flower color is an important feature of both the herbaceous border and the mixed border that includes shrubs as well as herbaceous plants, and of bedding-out schemes limited to colorful annuals. Flower gardens are sometimes tied in function to other kinds of gardens, like knot gardens or herb gardens, many herbs also having decorative function, and some decorative flowers being edible.
One simpler alternative to the designed flower garden is the “wildflower” seed mix, with assortments of seeds which will create a bed that contains flowers of various blooming seasons, so that some portion of them should always be in bloom. The best mixtures even include combinations of perennial and biennials, which may not bloom until the following year, and also annuals that are “self-seeding”, so they will return, creating a permanent flowerbed.
Another, even more recent trend is the “flower garden in a box”, where the entire design of a flower garden is pre-packaged, with separate packets of each kind of flower, and a careful layout to be followed to create the proposed pattern of color in the garden-to-be.
In the “Garden Plants” section of the site, you can find the types of flower you can plant. Don’t forget about the soil and the pests!
_____________________________________________________________________
HAPPY GARDENING!!!
Fertility is a combination of essential nutrients and a pH that makes these nutrients available to the plants. Texture refers to the size of the soil particles and their cohesiveness.
Nutrients
The three primary nutrients used by plants are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Nitrogen is largely responsible for healthy leaf and stem growth. In the soil, nitrogen is made available to plants by nitrogen fixing bacteria which convert nitrogen into nitrates, a form plants can use. Nitrogen does not remain in the soil for long. It gets used up by your plants and by decaying matter in the soil. It is also water soluble and can wash out of the soil rather quickly. Even so, an excess of nitrogen will cause a lot of foliage growth at the expense of flowers and fruit.
Phosphorus is very important for root growth. Flowering bulbs and root crops can always use some phosphorous. That’s why bone meal is often recommended for fall bulb planting. It also is crucial for producing flowers and you will sometimes see fertilizers with a high phosphoreus content advertised as flower boosters.
Potassium is needed for overall plant health. It keeps the plants growing and aids their immune systems. Like nitrogen, potassium is also water soluble and needs to be replenished from time to time.
Besides the three primary nutrients, there are several trace elements that are necessary for good plant health like: calcium, magnesium, zinc, molybdenum, etc.
pH
A lot is made of soil pH. In laymen’s terms, pH is a measure of the soil acidity or alkalinity. The scale goes from 1.0 to 14.0, with 7.0 being neutral. The lower the numbers go from 7.0, the more acidic the soil. The higher they go above 7.0, the more alkaline. The reason soil pH matters is that nutrients in the soil are only available to plants if the soil pH is within a certain range. Many plants like a pH in the low acid to neutral range (6.2 – 6.8), but that’s not true for all plants. Rhododendrons, heathers and blueberries favor very acid soils and lilacs and clematis will thrive in alkaline or even chalky soil. The only sure fire way to know where your soil’s pH falls is to have it tested. Keep in mind that it takes time to alter soil pH and your soil will tend to revert to its old pH over time, necessitating repeated treatment.
Texture
Soil texture is a little trickier to amend than soil fertility. Texture refers to the size of the soil particles. Sandy soils have very large particles. Water, air and plant roots can move freely in sandy soils, sometimes too much so. At the other end of the spectrum is clay. Clay particles are so small they pack together tightly and leave little room for water, air or roots. If you’ve ever tried to garden in baked clay you know it also leaves little room for a shovel blade.
An easy test for soil texture is to make a ball of damp garden soil. If it breaks apart when you tap it, it’s sandy. If you can press it between your thumb and finger and make a ribbon, it’s clay.
Most soils are somewhere in-between. What you are ideally going for is called a sandy loam. It should be light and allow for air and water movement, but have some tilth, a kind of fine bread crumb like texture, which usually occurs when there is plenty of organic matter in the soil.
Don’t try to change your soil texture by adding sand to clay or vice versa. That is a recipe for cement. Some amendment recommendations for clay do include a portion of very fine sand, but there are better ways to change your soil texture.
Organic Matter
Like soil pH, organic matter gets a great deal of press. Organic matter is dead plant or animal material. There is always some organic matter in your soil, but usually not enough for a plant’s needs. Decaying organic matter, or humus, will help give your soil tilth. It helps sandy soil by retaining water that would otherwise wash away and it corrects clay soil by making it looser, so that air, water and roots can penetrate. In all soils, it encourages beneficial microbial activity and it provides some nutritional benefits. Humus is natures way of feeding the circle of life.
There are many types of soil:
A
- Acid sulfate soil
- Acrisol
- Akadama
- Alfisols
- Alkali soils
- Andisols
- Andosols
- Anthrosols
- Antigo (soil)
- Aridisols
- Bama (soil)
- Bay mud
- Berkshire (soil)
- Blandford (soil)
- Bog
- Brickearth
- Brown earth
- Brown podzolic
- Calciorthid
- Calcisols
- Cambisols
- Casa Grande (soil)
- Cecil (soil)
- Charlottetown (soil series)
- Chernozem
- Clay
- Claypan
- Downer (soil)
- Drummer (soil)
- Durisols
- Entisol
- Fill dirt
- Flatwood
- Fluvisols
- Fuller’s earth
- Gelisols
- Gley soil
- Gleysols
- Guelph soil
- Gypsisols
- Hilo (soil)
- Histosol
- Houdek (soil)
- Hume (soil)
- Hydric soil
- Hydrophobic soil
- Inceptisols
- Jory (soil)
- Kalkaska sand
- Leptosols
- List of U.S. state soils
- List of bogs
- Lixisols
- Loam
- Loess
- Miami (soil)
- Mollisols
- Muck (soil)
- Muskeg
- Myakka (soil)
- Narragansett (soil)
- Natchez silt loam
- Necrosol
- Orovada (soil)
- Orthent
- Oxisol
- Paleosol
- Particle size (grain size)
- Paxton (soil)
- Peat
- Pedalfer
- Pedocal
- Pelan
- Plaggen soil
- Planosols
- Podsol
- Port Silt Loam
- Prime farmland
- Psamment
- Rankers
- Red Mediterranean soil
- Regosols
- Rendzina
- San Joaquin (soil)
- Scobey (soil)
- Seitz (soil)
- Serpentine soil
- Shrub swamp
- Sodic soil
- Soil series
- Solonchak
- Solonetz
- Spodic soils
- Stagnosol
- Stuttgart (soil)
- Subaqueous soil
- Subsoil
- Talik
- Tanana (soil)
- Technosols
- Tepetate
- Terra preta
- Terra rosa (soil)
- Threebear (soil)
- Tifton (soil)
- Topsoil
- Tropical peat
- Ultisols
- Umbrisols
- Ustochrept
- Vertisol
- List of vineyard soil types
- Windsor (soil)
- Yedoma
1. VEGETABLE GARDEN
First, make sure the soil is good for planting. Then comes the seeding and fertilizing (if needed). The most common vegetables that are planted in a “vegetable garden” are: beans, broccoli, asparagus, carrot, cucumber, onion, peas, potatoes, radicchio, spinach, sweetcorn and tomatoes. A beautiful and healthy garden depends on the soil, pests, good caring and weather. The quantity of vegetables that you grow depends on how big is your cultivating space.
Alphabetical list of vegetables:
- Amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus)
- Arugula (Eruca sativa)
- Beet greens (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris)
- Bitterleaf (Vernonia calvoana)
- Bok choy (Brassica rapa Chinensis group)
- Broccoli Rabe (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa)
- Brussels sprout (Brassica oleracea Gemmifera group)
- Cabbage (Brassica oleracea Capitata group)
- Catsear (Hypochaeris radicata)
- Celery (Apium graveolens)
- Celtuce (Lactuca sativa var. asparagina)
- Ceylon spinach (Basella alba)
- Chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla)
- Chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius subsp. aconitifolius)
- Chickweed (Stellaria)
- Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
- Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa Pekinensis group)
- Chinese Mallow (Malva verticillata)
- Chrysanthemum leaves (Chrysanthemum coronarium)
- Collard greens (Brassica oleracea)
- Corn salad (Valerianella locusta)
- Cress (Lepidium sativum)
- Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
- Endive (Cichorium endivia)
- Epazote (Chenopodium ambrosioides)
- Fat hen (Chenopodium album)
- Fiddlehead (Pteridium aquilinum, Athyrium esculentum)
- Fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis)
- Garden Rocket (Eruca sativa)
- Golden samphire (Inula crithmoides)
- Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus)
- Greater Plantain (Plantago major)
- Kai-lan (Brassica rapa Alboglabra group)
- Kale (Brassica oleracea Acephala group)
- Komatsuna (Brassica rapa Pervidis or Komatsuna group)
- Kuka (Adansonia spp.)
- Lagos bologi (Talinum fruticosum)
- Land cress (Barbarea verna)
- Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)
- Lizard’s tail (Houttuynia cordata)
- Melokhia (Corchorus olitorius, Corchorus capsularis)
- Mizuna greens (Brassica rapa Nipposinica group)
- Mustard (Sinapis alba)
- New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides)
- Orache (Atriplex hortensis)
- Pak choy (Brassica rapa Chinensis group)
- Paracress (Acmella oleracea)
- Pea sprouts/leaves (Pisum sativum)
- Polk (Phytolacca americana)
- Radicchio (Cichorium intybus)
- Samphire (Crithmum maritimum)
- Sea beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima)
- Seakale (Crambe maritima)
- Sierra Leone bologi (Crassocephalum spp.)
- Soko (Celosia argentea)
- Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)
- Spinach (Spinacia oleracea)
- Summer purslane (Portulaca oleracea)
- Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris subsp. cicla var. flavescens)
- Tatsoi (Brassica rapa Rosularis group)
- Turnip greens (Brassica rapa Rapifera group)
- Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)
- Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica)
- Winter purslane (Claytonia perfoliata)
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
- Avocado (Persea americana)
- Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum)
- Bitter melon/Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia)
- Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)
- Eggplant (Solanum melongena)
- Squash (Cucurbita spp.)
- Sweet corn aka corn; aka maize (Zea mays)
- Sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum Grossum group)
- Tinda (Praecitrullus fistulosus)
- Tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica)
- Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum var)
- Winter melon (Benincasa hispida)
- West Indian gherkin (Cucumis anguria)
- Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo)
- Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus, C. scolymus)
- Broccoli (Brassica oleracea)
- Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea)
- Squash blossoms (Cucurbita spp.)
- American groundnut (Apios americana)
- Azuki bean (Vigna angularis)
- Black-eyed pea (Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata)
- Chickpea (Cicer arietinum)
- Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
- Drumstick (Moringa oleifera)
- Dolichos bean (Lablab purpureus)
- Fava bean (Vicia faba)
- Green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
- Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba)
- Horse gram (Macrotyloma uniflorum)
- Indian pea (Lathyrus sativus)
- Lentil (Lens culinaris)
- Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus)
- Moth bean (Vigna acontifolia)
- Mung bean (Vigna radiata)
- Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)
- Pea (Pisum sativum)
- Peanut (Arachis hypogaea)
- Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan)
- Ricebean (Vigna umbellata)
- Runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus)
- Soybean (Glycine max)
- Tarwi (tarhui, chocho; Lupinus mutabilis)
- Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius)
- Urad bean (Vigna mungo)
- Velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens)
- Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)
- Yardlong bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis)
- Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)
- Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus)
- Celeriac (Apium graveolens var. rapaceum)
- Celery (Apium graveolens)
- Elephant Garlic (Allium ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum)
- Florence fennel (Foeniculum vulgare var. dulce)
- Garlic (Allium sativum)
- Kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea Gongylodes group)
- Kurrat (Allium ampeloprasum var. kurrat)
- Leek (Allium porrum)
- Lotus root (Nelumbo nucifera)
- Nopal (Opuntia ficus-indica)
- Onion (Allium cepa)
- Spring Onion/Scallion (Allium wakegi)
- Prussian asparagus (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum)
- Shallot (Allium cepa Aggregatum group)
- Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum)
- Wild leek (Allium tricoccum)
- Ahipa (Pachyrhizus ahipa)
- Arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza)
- Bamboo shoot (Bambusa vulgaris and Phyllostachys edulis)
- Beetroot (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris)
- Burdock (Arctium lappa)
- Broadleaf arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia)
- Camas (Camassia)
- Canna (Canna spp.)
- Carrot (Daucus carota)
- Cassava (Manihot esculenta)
- Chinese artichoke (Stachys affinis)
- Daikon (Raphanus sativus Longipinnatus group)
- Earthnut pea (Lathyrus tuberosus)
- Elephant Foot yam (Amorphophallus_paeoniifolius)
- Ensete (Ensete ventricosum)
- Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
- Gobo (Arctium lappa)
- Hamburg parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. tuberosum)
- Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)
- Jícama (Pachyrhizus erosus)
- Mooli (Raphanus sativus Longipinnatus group)
- Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)
- Pignut (Conopodium majus)
- Plectranthus (Plectranthus spp.)
- Potato (Solanum tuberosum)
- Prairie turnip (Psoralea esculenta)
- Radish (Raphanus sativus)
- Rutabaga (Brassica napus Napobrassica group)
- Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius)
- Scorzonera (Scorzonera hispanica)
- Skirret (Sium sisarum)
- Sweet Potato or Kumara (Ipomoea batatas)
- Taro (Colocasia esculenta)
- Ti (Cordyline fruticosa)
- Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus)
- Turnip (Brassica rapa Rapifera group)
- Ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus)
- Wasabi (Wasabia japonica)
- Water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis)
- Yacón (Smallanthus sonchifolius)
- Yam (Dioscorea spp.)
- Aonori (Monostroma spp., Enteromorpha spp.)
- Carola (Callophyllis variegata)
- Dabberlocks aka badderlocks (Alaria esculenta)
- Dulse (Palmaria palmata)
- Gim (Porphyra spp.)
- Hijiki (Hizikia fusiformis)
- Kombu (Laminaria japonica)
- Laver (Porphyra spp.)
- Mozuku (Cladosiphon okamuranus)
- Nori (Porphyra spp.)
- Ogonori (Gracilaria spp.)
- Sea grape (Caulerpa spp.)
- Seakale (Crambe maritima)
- Sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca)
- Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida)
GOOD LUCK!!!
____________________________________________________________________
2. FLOWER AND HERB GARDEN (ornamental garden)
A flower garden is any garden where flowers are grown for decorative purposes. Because flowers bloom at varying times of the year, and some plants are annual, dying each winter, the design of flower gardens can take into consideration to maintain a sequence of bloom and even of consistent color combinations, through varying seasons.Flower color is an important feature of both the herbaceous border and the mixed border that includes shrubs as well as herbaceous plants, and of bedding-out schemes limited to colorful annuals. Flower gardens are sometimes tied in function to other kinds of gardens, like knot gardens or herb gardens, many herbs also having decorative function, and some decorative flowers being edible.
One simpler alternative to the designed flower garden is the “wildflower” seed mix, with assortments of seeds which will create a bed that contains flowers of various blooming seasons, so that some portion of them should always be in bloom. The best mixtures even include combinations of perennial and biennials, which may not bloom until the following year, and also annuals that are “self-seeding”, so they will return, creating a permanent flowerbed.
Another, even more recent trend is the “flower garden in a box”, where the entire design of a flower garden is pre-packaged, with separate packets of each kind of flower, and a careful layout to be followed to create the proposed pattern of color in the garden-to-be.
In the “Garden Plants” section of the site, you can find the types of flower you can plant. Don’t forget about the soil and the pests!
_____________________________________________________________________
HAPPY GARDENING!!!
