Entire gardening books have been written about the different soil conditions needed for gardens–even those tended by casual and weekend gardeners. You’ve read about pH balance in lots of articles but there are other things to think about too.
Soil Grade
Two other things that are very important are the drainage and the grade of the soil. It’s possible to have soil that is too drained not drained enough and your soil can be too fine, too bulky or even downright clumpy. So how do you know what needs to be done and which methods are best to go about addressing everything? It’s actually not that hard because the plant you want to plant and how it starts its life will be what determines everything.
We have to admit that we are nursery junkies, too, and we just love walking around in them. The bigger they are, the more interesting and fun they tend to be. The main purpose of the nursery is to sell the multitude of plants that they have. They also offer many kinds of seeds as well as mature plants for sale. Be aware though of what you can reasonably grow and what you already have at home. Its probably a good guess to say that you won’t be able to grow every gorgeous plant you see in your soil or climate. The soil is the most basic thing to work with in your garden, you need to know what condition it is in and what its characteristics are. For example, it is still possible that not all hopeful gardeners know that the soil’s pH is very important. Every plant has unique needs, especially the basic flowering plants. So if you do not already know what your soil pH is, it’s good to get the basic test kit for your soil pH and find it out. When you know just what you are dealing with, you can take the proper steps to adjust it however it needs to be adjusted. Who knows, maybe this is why you haven’t been able to get something to grow successfully, even though you’ve been trying all sorts of things to find success.
Peat Moss
Just about every person out there has at least heard of peat moss. It’s a fair assumption, however, that most gardeners don’t use it correctly because, from what we can tell, most gardeners seem to think it only needs to be thrown in there.
Peat moss is organic and it does have a certain level of nutrition to it. It was not, though, ever intended to be used as fertilizer. Peat moss is supposed to be mixed into the compact soil so that it will assume a finer grade and a lighter quality. You can also mix fertilizer with peat moss, as well. It’s also good to mix peat moss into soil that is really really fine which keeps it from being able to properly retain moisture.
It doesn’t really matter what you plant, there are still a lot of variables to consider when you plan out your garden. Space is really important and it will be a major deciding factor for you. If you yearn to grow veggies, then do not be discouraged if you have a smallish plot to work with. Think in wider rows for those veggie crops and you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.