How well your garden thrives is highly dependent on your soil’s quality. Bad soil will lead to poor produce or little to no flowers, which is every gardener’s nightmare. Nevertheless, bad soil shouldn’t deter you from gardening.

4 Ways to Improve the Quality of Your Poor Garden Soil

Is bad soil preventing your garden from blooming? Bad soil can be improved, and here’s how:

1.     Get a Soil Test

To properly diagnose the problem with your soil, you have to run a few tests. A basic soil test will reveal your soil chemistry, providing information about your soil’s pH, organic matter level, and nutrient content. This will enable you to determine and improve what’s in shortage or excess.  Click here to find out how to turn your bad soil into a super soil.

2.    Use More Organic Matter

Adding organic matter to your soil works wonders for the overall health of your soil. It can improve the water retention or draining ability of your soil. What’s more, it’s really easy to source. You can decompose common household materials to create compost manure for your garden.

3.     Plant More Cover Crops

Cover crops, like winter peas, clovers and buckwheat, are a great planting option when dealing with bad soil. They can help improve soil quality by adding nutrients, aerating, and attracting beneficial organisms to the soil. Also, during the winter, cover crops can act as mulch, protecting the soil from the extreme temperatures.

4.    Avoid Tilling

On a large farm, tilling can help break and aerate the soil. However, in your small garden, tilling can be quite harmful. To loosen the soil in your small garden, use a digging fork instead.  A digging fork would achieve the same effects as tilling without destroying beneficial soil organisms and exposing your soil to erosion.

If you want your soil to yield better produce or flowers, you can improve your soil using these tips. Need more help improving your bad soil? Contact us today at Levy’s Lawn & Landscaping!