{"id":6281,"date":"2013-12-25T00:33:11","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T07:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6281"},"modified":"2013-12-19T08:32:08","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T15:32:08","slug":"beginning-gardening-getting-your-soil-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/beginning-gardening-getting-your-soil-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Start Gardening by Getting your Soil Right"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Where there&#8217;s muck there&#8217;s brassed off gardeners unless they have the right soil to take the extra nutrient.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1843173271\/richardpettin-21\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.amazon.com\/images\/P\/1843173271.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg\" alt=\"Book Cover\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1843173271\/richardpettin-21\">&#8216;The Gardeners&#8217; Book: For the Gardener Who&#8217;s Best at Everything&#8217;<\/a> is really grand for novice gardeners taking up gardening for the first time or those seeking to grow some green fingers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Improve Your Own Soil&#8217;s Consistency<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Great soil contains air, water and nutrients appropriate for the plants you want to grow.<\/li>\n<li> Digging soil over introduces air then weather breaks it down into a fine <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/gardening-jargon-busting\/\">tilth<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li> Worms aerate soil and improve the texture. They feed on humus or rotting vegetable matter so encourage worms by feeding the soil with humus.<\/li>\n<li> Sandy soil needs more humus to help it retain water. Clay needs more humus to hold the soil open for delicate roots.<\/li>\n<li> Soil should drain excess water away so some stones are not a problem. If there are lots of stones and rocks remove them or grow plants that like those conditions.<\/li>\n<li>Do not walk on very wet soil. Use a plank or duck board.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bought Soil and Compost<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Compost in bags can be perfect for pots and containers. It usually has some fertilizer, some wetting agent to make it easy to water and is of a consistancy that helps plants grow. It is not economic for larger garden areas although I use it in the greenhouse beds.<\/li>\n<li>Peat, as well as being out of favour as unsustainable or eco-unfriendly, has no nutritional value and is hard to water once it dries out.<\/li>\n<li> Top soil can be bought in various quantities but may contain stones, weeds and poor soil so beware.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Right Soil Chemical Content<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plants need Nitrogen, Phosphates and Potassium (NPK) as food from the soil. Sun is the enegy to turn this food into growth through photosynthesis.<\/li>\n<li>Hearty soil will have accessible NPK that can be augmented, for heavy feeding plants, with a balance fertilizer such as Growmore or Blood, Fish and Bone.<\/li>\n<li>Some plants prefer a slightly acid soil from which to extract the nutrients and animal manure and peat mixed with your soil will increase the acidity.<\/li>\n<li>Vegetables often prefer an alkaline soil so you can add a dusting of lime.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>I thought my humus was a funny bone until they gave me the elbow.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Where there&#8217;s muck there&#8217;s brassed off gardeners unless they have the right soil to take the extra nutrient. &#8216;The Gardeners&#8217; Book: For the Gardener Who&#8217;s Best at Everything&#8217; is really grand for novice gardeners taking up gardening for the first time or those seeking to grow some green fingers. Improve Your Own Soil&#8217;s Consistency Great soil contains air, water and nutrients appropriate for the plants you want to grow. Digging soil over introduces air then weather breaks it down into&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/beginning-gardening-getting-your-soil-right\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,222],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening","category-novice-gardeners"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}