Determining Soil Drainage
The first step to a bountiful and beautiful garden is making sure that your soil is healthy and that it has the proper drainage for your plants.
Today I will explain how to determine your soil drainage (i.e. the porosity of your soil . . .that is, how well your soil retains the proper amount of water)
Not every plant likes to have “wet feet” all the time while others love it, so the secret to “happy plants” is to match the plant to the soil or correct your soil drainage. Don’t just leave it to guesswork!
Before you start checking your soil drainage, you will need a clean garden spade, a ruler, a garden hose, pen and paper, and compost.
Step 1: On a sunny mild day, take your clean spade, go to the middle of your planting area, and dig a hole about 1 to 2 feet deep and wide.
Step 2: With your garden hose, fill the hole with water. With your ruler, measure the water depth in the hole and record this number.
Step 3: Every 15 minutes, measure the water depth and record each new number. If the water disappears after an hour, drainage is too quick. Correct the soil by adding a 3 inch layer of well rotted manure or compost and mixing well.
If on the other hand, you have clay soil and the soil drainage is next to nil, mixing compost and even peat moss with your soil will help.
Step 4: If level drops an inch an hour, you have proper soil drainage.
The biggest advantage of determining soil drainage is that you will know which type of plant will best fit your drainage situation, so less money will be wasted on trial and error.
To your gardening success!
Marcie
Get the best at super prices
http://www.A1Gardening-LandscapingSupplies.com/
Popularity: 3% [?]
Tags: determining soil drainage, drainage flow, garden drainage, garden soil test, porosity of different types of soils, water retention soil
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
May 18th, 2010 03:01
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
May 19th, 2010 09:19
[...] Determining Soil Drainage | Plants Aחԁ Gardening Tips [...]
May 20th, 2010 04:58
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
May 20th, 2010 23:53
[...] Determining Soil Drainage | Plants And Gardening Tips [...]
May 26th, 2010 15:23
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I enjoy seeing websites that understand the value of providing a prime resource for free. I truly loved reading your post. Thanks!
May 26th, 2010 19:52
[...] Determining Soil Drainage | Plants Aחԁ Gardening Tips [...]
May 26th, 2010 20:56
[...] Determining Soil Drainage | Plants Aחԁ Gardening Tips [...]
May 27th, 2010 23:10
Keep up the good work, I like your writing.
May 29th, 2010 00:51
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I enjoy seeing websites that understand the value of providing a prime resource for free. I truly loved reading your post. Thanks!
June 27th, 2010 06:30
It was a pleasure finding this, thanks for meeting my needs here.
July 11th, 2010 01:02
I just wanted to comment and say that I really enjoyed reading your blog post here. It was very informative and I also digg the way you write! Keep it up and I’ll be back to read more in the future
July 17th, 2010 20:41
hey there I just wanted to comment your blog and say that I really enjoyed reading your blog post here. It was very informative and I also digg the way you write! Keep it up and I’ll be back to read more soon mate