Garden Gallery of Soil
A big part of the gardening struggle is understanding your soil. Everyone is starting to realize that if you have quality soil below the ground, then you’ll end up with quality plants above it. Identifying the type of soil that you have existing in your garden can be a huge advantage to making your gardening easier. I have discussed in past blog posts (Why I Should Buy High Quality Soil?) soil texture, but did not go into much detail about composition. If you recall, soils fall somewhere on a spectrum between sand, silt, and clay. The garden gallery of soil below shows some soil ingredients that are integral in building the perfect soil for your garden!
Sandy Soil
This soil type has the largest soil particles out of the three main soil types. These large particles mean that there will be larger spaces between them, allowing water to drain from it freely. Having very sandy soil can be a detriment because it will not hold onto the water that plants need. However, if there is not enough sand then water can become stagnant in the soil and will not be distributed properly. Sand is also lacking in many essential plant nutrients.
Silty Soil
Silt soil particles are much smaller than sand particles and retain a lot more moisture as well. A good way to describe silt is the texture of the soil that is settled at the bottom of ponds. That slick, almost gooey texture is characteristic of silt. Silty soil can hold a good amount of nutrients, but can provide some drainage issues.
Clay Soil
Clay soil particles are the finest of the three soil types. This soil type also carries the most amount of nutrients. Soil with a high clay content will have a lot of nutrients, but due to the hard and compacted nature of clay these nutrients will not be able to be absorbed by plants. Clay can also become saturated with water and can cause serious water retention, starving plants of the necessary moisture.
Peat Soil
This soil type is decayed vegetative matter that is mostly found in swamps and marshes. These soils have a very high nutrient content and are light and workable. Peat soils also have the ability to retain a lot of moisture.
Loamy Soil
Gardeners often describe the perfect garden soil as loam. Loam is the ideal mixture of sand, silt, clay, and also contains the by-product of soil microorganisms called humus (also described in Why I Should Buy High Quality Soil?). It will have a perfect amount moisture retention, proper air flow and room for nutrients to reach plants.
BigYellowBag Black Garden Soil is mainly comprised of black loam, but also has added peat, compost, and manure in order to maximize the amount of nutrients. Agronomists are continually testing our products in order to ensure a high quality standard. Don’t take my word for it though, we provide a 100% satisfaction guarantee at the time of delivery so if you’re looking for soil, you really have nothing to lose! Check out our website and place an order today from your local BigYellowBag distributor.