I can't read my soil !! :(

The problem i have is that i don't know if my soil is good and fertile, has too much Nitrogen, not enough Nitrogen, too much of something else, not enough of something else I think it's the one topic that has kept me from attempting gardening in the past.

I've just spent the last couple of weeks preparing new flower beds in my garden. I've turned the soil, mixed dead leaves in with it to help break down the clay soil, spread some nutrient granules down and covered with cardboard as a sheet mulch. Ready for spring. All the time i am thinking of what kind of soil will i end up with when i'm ready to plant? Will i need to add more nutrients or will there be too much of a nutrient or not enough. I saw that too much Nitrogen can cause problems and too little can cause problems

Would it be advisable to do a soil analysis?

 

Hi

Adding fertilizer in the winter is a waste of ££ and time as most will get washed away by the winter rain, well it would here in the UK not sure what part of Italy you are in but I know its freezing there as well in December.

(add it just as you are to plant about a week before raked in ...)

Have you grown plants in the soil before ? most annuals only root in the top 6 inches and if over fertilized will produce more foliage than flowers.
Adding leaves will help but best if you can add horse muck or the like to add bulk this will cut down on the watering as well and help open up clay soil by encouraging worms.
Clay soils are normally rich in food but the drainage is the problem also drying out in the summer months.

You could send a sample of soil but you have already added fertilizer to the soil so it wont be very accurate with what you receive back any chance you could use soil close by ?

Spruce

 

Thanks Spruce

the weather is pretty similar to the UK at the moment and as we move into Jan/Feb it will head into the minuses.

The new beds, up until a couple of weeks ago, were part of the lawn. I've marked off the areas and dug them over. So all that was growing before working on them was weeds and grass.

As you mentioned, the clay soil is a big problem here. During heavy rains the water retention is very bad and in the summer, the intense heat turns the clay very hard which creates large cracks across the lawn. This is something i am trying to rectify. I will collect some horse manure tomorrow and work it into the beds.

Yes i can collect soil samples from nearby where i dug the new beds.

Thanks again

John

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Unless you know that the soil is dud, then I'd say what you've done is enough for now. Its easy to overcomplicate things and put yourself off starting something, but really, stuff will either grow or it wont, and despite what all the text books say, sometimes stuff will grow when the textbooks say it shouldn't, or it wont grow in textbook perfect conditions. Of course its right to make adjustments as necessary, but once plants are growing you'll get better feedback about the soil than any instrument or test kit can give you.

Apart from that, the only thing I can advise is that if its your first year of gardening that patch, don't spend a fortune on plants to fill it. Go for cheaper and more versatile stuff, watch how it grows, and adjust as necessary over time.

 

I would imagine if newly dug lawn will easily grow annuals certainty for next year without adding any fertilizer or you could easily top up with a watering can with feed mixed in if they are looking un happy.

I have gardened on heavy clay (the only time I could work the soil was late April early May ) and I had the same with cracks in the lawn over the summer months and during the winter soaking wet till late April early May before it would be dry enough to walk on properly , I gave up on the lawn but with the borders I added pea shingle which helped amazingly , I also quickly found out which plants I could grow and coudnt, but saying all that the soil was rich with food for plants.

I would try and get plants that are suited to your soil conditions have a look whats growing in your area is best or ask a question on here, if growing condition similar to part of the UK

Raised beds are ideal solution if growing veg also flower beds, hard work to start off with but so easy after that also you could use the no dig method just keep off the soil and add compost and manure each year.

With the horse manure just leave on the top of the soil the worms will do the rest if to wet to dig in , try and put on as much as you can get your hands on.