Understanding what type of soil you have in your garden is the first step to successfully growing plants. Here are few tips from Tod on identifying your soil type and what to do about it.

Identifying your soil:

Grab a handful of damp dirt and rub it around in your hand. Sandy soil will feel gritty and be difficult to roll into a ball. Clay loam will feel sticky and roll into a ball or a ribbon. Loam will feel gritty but roll into a ball when damp. And clay will not only roll into a ball but also stretch out without breaking.

Once you've worked out which soil type you have here are some tips for getting the best from it.

Sandy:

Sandy soil is loose, free draining and will dry out quickly in warm weather.

To encourage the soil to retain moisture and nutrients, add lots of compost to the soil. And place plenty of mulch (newspaper, grass clippings etc) around your plants.

Clay loam:

Clay loam can be a dense, heavy soil but is easy to make into freer-draining soil by regularly adding compost and humus. Instead of pulling out old plants, dig them back into the soil. They will help create extra space and nutrients within the soil.

Loam

Loan soil is generally rich in nutrients and drains freely. To improve it you can add compost and mulch.

Clay soil

Clay soil is rich in nutrients and holds water well but it is prone to waterlogging, can be very sticky when wet and tough when dry.

Adding well-rotted manures and peastraw, gypsum, coffee grounds, mulch or compost can improve clay soil greatly by allowing water and oxygen to move through the soil more easily. Adding lime can also help to open up the clay particles and make it easier for water to pass through.

If you are able to, try draining the soil or, if necessary, dig trenches and lay drains to raise the garden beds above the soil surface. It's important that any major digging is done when the clay is 'damp-dry' and not wet or dry. This will most likely be around spring time when it's beginning to dry out following winter. If none of the above helps, simply build raised garden beds on top of the soil!

For more tips on getting success from your soil visit here.