Have you, at this time of year, been tidying the garden beds, sinking in pots for protection or emptying summer planters to have a large black beetle pop out of nowhere looking very disgruntled or found a worm curled into a tight ball? These creatures are just the tip of the world of life within the soil. It is this life that keeps the soil healthy and productive. At this time of year some of this life goes dormant or hibernates for winter.

How much life there is within the soil depends on its make-up and that varies considerably from garden to garden, place to place. A garden that has been cultivated and replenished for many years will be very different from a newly building lot with raw native soil. Our valley bottoms lined with thousands of years of alluvial soil build up are naturally more rich than the raw rocks and thin layers of top soil on the mountains. It is unfortunate that humans build on so much of these valley bottom richest soils to take them out of agricultural production. It takes hundreds of years and a lot of work to replicate those naturally productive soils. The good news for most of us with gardens on hillsides and rocky ground, is that it can be done on a small scale.

When we lived in Northern Saskatchewan the farming children would miss three or four weeks of school in the Spring to be rock picking. Their farms were pioneer farms only formed in the thirties and forties of the last century. The boreal forest grew on the Canadian Shield and on the edge of muskeg. It was rocky, very rocky and in order for any farm equipment to be used or crops to be grown, the first step to amend the soil was to pull out the largest rocks. Like magic after spring thaw, or break up more rocks appeared every year having worked their way to the surface. It seemed like a never ending chore that would go on for decades.

On a much smaller scale for the home gardener, it is the same. On a new plot of land, if productive gardening is planned, large rocks will need to be removed. The enormous ones might be left as a feature and in the area in which I live we see that a lot. You may have inherited an already established garden in which case your soil assessments will be slightly different than if you are one of the many new home owners in this area of new development.

Fall can be a good time of year to amend any soil that is in need of replenishment or adjustment. Maybe you have a brand new home with all the bits of construction left on site and raw soil to go with it. Maybe you just have an area that needs sorting out for spring or maybe your food crop was not as good as you hoped and some adjustment is necessary. With cooler temperatures and top growth removed the grunt work is a lot easier and it easier to see what you are dealing with. Spring is another good time but if preparation can be made now, spring work will be a lot easier.

If you are beginning from scratch or the garden you have is not productive and neglected, these diagnostic steps will be the same. Fancy tests are not necessary. What you need to know can be learned by observation and feel. These are the questions you need to answer.

Is the ground hard packed?

Does water pool when it rains?

Can you observe water actively draining away?

Does rain soak easily into the soil?

When you pick up a handful of soil and squeeze it:

 – Does it hold together in a tight  ball?

 – Does it form a loose crumbly mass?

 – Will it form a lump of any sort or does it fall apart completely?

 – Does it feel gritty?

 – Does it feel soft and slimy?

– What does the soil smell like?

 – If you know plants at all, what grows naturally in this soil?

What you want in a good garden soil is one that will just hold together when you squeeze a handful. It should smell earthy not sour or stinky.

It should look like this:

This handful of good loamy soil is loosely clinging together, contains fibrous roots, bits of plant matter, very small stones and a beetle that scuttled away.

If the soil forms a tight ball when you squeeze it, it is also likely water pools on it after rain. It is also likely not much grows well in it and bare soil is visible in places.

This is likely a clay soil made of very small particles.

If the soil falls totally apart and feels gritty, it is likely that water drains quickly through it. It is also likely that some grasses grow in it but it too, may have sparse green growth.

This is a sandy soil made of larger particles.

A mixture of these two types of soil along with some rotted plant matter or humus is what you need – a rich loam that roots can penetrate, creatures can inhabit and enough moisture will hold the nutrients necessary for plant growth.  

If you have a soil that is one extreme or the other an amendment is required to bring it to the middle – a crumbly loamy mixture. If you have clay with poor drainage you will need to add some sand. If you have a sandy loose soil you will need to add some non clay soil from elsewhere and or a whole lot of humus, decomposed plant matter. Decomposed plant matter will solve many problems. It might take the form of very well rotted manure, leaf mold, sawdust, compost, wood chips, coconut fiber or fine bark mulch. People always ask, ” How much do I add?” There is no formula! Add until the soil just holds together in a crumbly mass. In a brand new garden, it is usually a large amount – a dump truck load or two for a city lot. You can rarely have too much. Investing in a lot of humus will reap dividends.

Of course your landscaping design will also have an impact on how much amendment you wish to do. Some real thought into the type of garden and plantings you have or wish to have will impact the amendments necessary. It is possible to have a beautiful garden on natural soil. The choice of plants will be severely limited however as will food production.

If you know plants or can use a plant identification application, identify the plants growing naturally and read about the conditions they like. This will be another indicator of the type of soil you are dealing with.

I have seen lawns being laid on to clay with a thin layer of sand on top but that does not work. The sand must be incorporated into the soil. If the water just drains through an inch of sand and then pools, the grass roots will be deprived of the oxygen they need, the water will go sour and the grass will look terrible. The amending materials need to be incorporated either with a rototiller or hard work.

Humus is a gardener’s friend because it opens the soil structure, brings in nutrients and the microorganisms necessary for a well-balanced productive soil. In Canada peat moss is still sold and used for this purpose. I hesitate to recommend it because it comes at the expense of our natural environment, peat bogs and muskegs. These carbon sinks play a huge role in our climate. Sales of peat moss are banned in Europe and I wonder how long it will be before the same happens here. It is best to look for alternatives in my opinion.

Heading into winter is a good time to add amendments to the soil by spreading and letting them to sit over winter, the freeze thaw action and some worm activity will begin the incorporation process naturally.

These are the basics of soil amendment and no science degree is required. I will explore pH and nutrients in a future article.