by John Yazo
by John Yazo
Garden soils vary and can be a real challenge to work with if you do not understand their characteristics. Some of them can have their downside,while others may have many benefits that they can provide to your organic garden.
Soil is made up of sand, silt and clay particles, clay being the finest, silt being intermediate, and sand being the coarse particles. Clay soil is negatively charged, giving it the ability to hold onto elements that are positively charged like ammonium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and other trace elements that plant life need to flourish. This process is known as cation, and is a benefit that clay soil has over other soil types.
Even though a soil like clay is harder to work with than other soil types, clays soil structure can be improved. To properly improve any type of soil a test to determine the percentage of clay, silt, and sand needs to be done. A soil with more than 40 percent clay particles is normally classified as a clay soil.
To collect a good sample, it needs to be a good representation of the area you are improving. If it looks like the soil changes in different areas of the location you are working, separate samples should be taken.
When collecting a soil sample, scrape off the top inch or two of soil. Then dig a hole about 6 inches deep,and try to keep one side of the hole straight. Once the hole is dug, slice off a layer down the side about an inch or two thick and place it in a plastic sandwich bag. Label the bag with the location if you are collecting more than one sample.
Once the sample is collected, lay it out on a tray and breakup any clumps the best you can to let it dry for about a day. When dry, it will need to be sifted out to remove any roots and small stones, along with breaking up any hard clumps. A wire mesh or a colander works are two common household items that can be used as a screen to sift soil.
Next take the sifted sample and place it in a jar with about a tablespoon of dish detergent, preferably dry detergent. this will help to keep the soil particles separated. Then fill the jar with water, tighten the lid, and completely dilute the sample by shaking the jar. Once the content of the jar has been completely diluted, place it on a level surface and let it sit for a day. The content in the jar will start to settle in about an hour, but it should be left sitting for a day to completely settle.
Once the sample has completely settled, you will notice the different layers, the heaviest layer being the sand will be on the bottom, silt will be the middle layer, and clay will be the top layer. Now measure the total height of all three layers, and then measure the thickness of the three layers individually.
Now that you have all four measurements, you can figure the percentage of each individual layer in the sample by dividing thickness of any one individual layer by the total height of the sample. If you have a 2 inch thick layer of clay and a 4 inch total height of sample, divide 2 by 4 and you will get.5,.5 x 100% = 50%. Follow these same steps to calculate the percentage of all the layers in your sample.
A good healthy garden soil structure should not exceed a 27 percent clay content to drain properly. The best way to amend the clay content is by adding organic matter, and avoid working clay soil when it is wet. Amending clay soil is not a one time procedure, you will need to keep applying organic matter at least once a year.
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