Garden Soil
So you want to take up gardening as a hobby, maybe grow some nice fresh veggies or maybe you want to bring some added color to your drab looking backyard.
If color is your only concern you could just as easily pay a visit to your local gardening center and purchase some potted plants. But if you want to grow your own then you need to first find out what kind of garden soil you have available in your backyard.
The fertility of your garden soil is very important as none fertile soil will not be able to support the growth of healthy plants. Garden soil requires plenty of nutrients and an optimum pH balance. The primary nutrients needed to grow healthy plants are phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium.
The Nitrogen in your garden soil needs to be converted into nitrates this is done by nitrogen fixing bacteria and it's these nitrates that are mainly responsible for healthy leaf and stem growth.
As with everything in nature there has to be a balance, too much nitrogen in your soil will produce more foliage growth than flowers or fruit. Nitrogen also needs to be replaced regularly as it gets used up by plants and by decaying matter in the soil. It is also soluble so can be washed away by the rain or over watering.
Root growth depends more on phosphorus and flowering bulbs and root crops such as carrots, beets, etc can benefit prom you adding some to the garden soil. A good source of phosphorus is bone meal which can be added to the soil when planting flowering bulbs.
For overall plant health the right balance of potassium is needed this substance aids the plants immune system. Potassium is also water soluble so needs to be topped up at times.Other much needed elements that make up good fertile garden soil are calcium, zinc, molybdenum and magnesium.
Garden soil pH is determined by the soils acidity and alkalinity properties and is measured on a scale from 1 - 14 a pH of 7 would be neutral. Lower numbers indicate acidity while higher numbers indicate a more alkaline soil.
You should check the correct values of pH for the particular flowers or plants you intend to grow this can easily be done buy using a pH tester. If you don't want to purchase your own testing equipment most garden centers will provide this service for you so give them a call and check if they do offer this service.
Garden soil conditions will be constantly changing so it's an ongoing challenge to provide your plants with the optimal nutrients and pH conditions they require for healthy growth.
If color is your only concern you could just as easily pay a visit to your local gardening center and purchase some potted plants. But if you want to grow your own then you need to first find out what kind of garden soil you have available in your backyard.
The fertility of your garden soil is very important as none fertile soil will not be able to support the growth of healthy plants. Garden soil requires plenty of nutrients and an optimum pH balance. The primary nutrients needed to grow healthy plants are phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium.
The Nitrogen in your garden soil needs to be converted into nitrates this is done by nitrogen fixing bacteria and it's these nitrates that are mainly responsible for healthy leaf and stem growth.
As with everything in nature there has to be a balance, too much nitrogen in your soil will produce more foliage growth than flowers or fruit. Nitrogen also needs to be replaced regularly as it gets used up by plants and by decaying matter in the soil. It is also soluble so can be washed away by the rain or over watering.
Root growth depends more on phosphorus and flowering bulbs and root crops such as carrots, beets, etc can benefit prom you adding some to the garden soil. A good source of phosphorus is bone meal which can be added to the soil when planting flowering bulbs.
For overall plant health the right balance of potassium is needed this substance aids the plants immune system. Potassium is also water soluble so needs to be topped up at times.Other much needed elements that make up good fertile garden soil are calcium, zinc, molybdenum and magnesium.
Garden soil pH is determined by the soils acidity and alkalinity properties and is measured on a scale from 1 - 14 a pH of 7 would be neutral. Lower numbers indicate acidity while higher numbers indicate a more alkaline soil.
You should check the correct values of pH for the particular flowers or plants you intend to grow this can easily be done buy using a pH tester. If you don't want to purchase your own testing equipment most garden centers will provide this service for you so give them a call and check if they do offer this service.
Garden soil conditions will be constantly changing so it's an ongoing challenge to provide your plants with the optimal nutrients and pH conditions they require for healthy growth.