The soil conditions in the garden play a very important role in the growth of the plants. But how do you determine the garden soil?
Most plants make certain demands on the soil conditions. So they only thrive if you plant them in the right soil. Many plants also adapt to the soil conditions, which is why they unfortunately often die. That's why it's so important that you make the right choice of plants for each type of soil.
However, the problem is often that hobby gardeners in particular do not even know what kind of soil they have in their garden. Accordingly, they are also surprised when many plants do not want to thrive properly or even die. We will therefore explain to you here how to determine the soil conditions in your garden. With this knowledge, you will certainly no longer use the wrong plants in the garden.
Determine garden soil - explained step by step
» Step 1 - Determine soil type:
There are many different types of soil, each with specific characteristics. You can use this to easily determine the type of soil in your garden. Just take a soil sample and take a closer look at it. In this overview you will find the individual characteristics of the soil types:
- sandy soil - very light, but often poor in nutrients
- Moor soils - black, very moist soil
- heavy soil - often loamy, very fertile, waterlogged, becomes extremely hard in summer
- calcareous soils (also called alkaline soils) - light, stony soils, permeable and fertile
- Lime-free soils (also called acidic soils) - store moisture well, can be neutralized with lime
And could you analyze what kind of soil you have in the garden? If not, then you should move on to step 2. If so, please skip to step 3.
» Step 2 - have a professional soil analysis carried out:
A professional soil analysis will give you precise information about the type of soil in your garden. At the same time, a nutrient analysis is also carried out and thus the values of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium,Magnesium, calcium, sulfur and other trace elements (e.g. iron, copper, zinc, etc.) are determined. And this is how it is done:
Winter in particular is ideal for a so-called soil sample. To do this, you have to remove a little soil from the individual garden beds in different places. It is ideal if you even dig up different soil depths and mix them together. You can then hand in the soil samples to the responsible agricultural office and have them analyzed. In advance, however, you should find out exactly what the costs will be and ideally have them explain exactly where and how much soil you have to remove and hand in.
» Step 3 - determine the pH value:
If you have had a professional soil analysis carried out, the pH value of your garden soil will be given to you automatically. If you have determined the soil type yourself, then you still have to determine the pH value yourself. This is important because not every plant will thrive in every soil. One needs acidic soil to thrive and the other doesn't. The rule is that most plants do quite well with an acidity (i.e. pH level) of 5.5 to 7.0. However, there are exceptions, which is why you should rather determine the pH value.
Generally, garden soils are classified according to pH as follows:
- pH below 4.5=acidic soil
- pH value of 5.5=sandy soil
- pH between 6.5 and 7=normal soil
- pH above 7.2=alkaline soil
In order to determine this value, you should best buy a pH soil test set. For example, we recommend the NEUDORFF PH soil test set:
This is very easy to use. You can use it to determine the pH value of your garden soil in just four steps:
- Put some soil in the tubes provided
- Fill tubes with water
- add a pill
- Compare the color with the information on the kit and determine the pH value
If there are he alth concerns, a Geiger counter can be used to check whether there is radioactive radiation in the ground. This is rarely the case and is primarily practiced by garden owners who live near a nuclear power plant.