Garden as though you will live forever — William Kent
Gardening isn’t as simple as burying a seed and watering it, but it also isn’t rocket science. If you have a pretty garden that you’d like to beautify a bit more, then you need to understand how to manage the soil for outdoor plants.
Planting directly in your garden is a bit more difficult than planting in pots. There are other things to worry about regarding garden soil than potting soil.
In this article, we’ll show you the difference between both types of soil, as well as how to get the best results from planting in your garden.
Outdoor Garden Soil vs Indoor Pot Soil
To most people, the word “soil” means the medium in which the plants grow. This soil is supposed to hold the water and minerals for plants until they need to extract them through the roots.
Planting is often done either in pots or directly in the ground of your garden. While it might initially seem that you can use whatever soil you want in both types of planting, we wouldn’t recommend doing such a thing.
Outdoor and indoor soils are formulated differently. Indoor soil is dirt-free soil often made of peat moss, perlite, and compost. Outdoor or garden soil, on the other hand, is mixing the native soil of your garden with some amendments.
The reason why I recommend against using any soil haphazardly is to prevent root damage. Using the incorrect soil can lead to compaction or excessive water retention, both of which can damage the roots of your plant.
What Makes Good Soil for Outdoor Gardening?
To cut things short, a good outdoor gardening soil should be:
- Strong enough to hold the plant upright, but not too compacted
- Draining enough to prevent water stagnation and fungal contamination
- Loose enough to allow water absorption and root expansion
- Fertilized enough to prevent starving your plants
The ability of the soil to meet the previous requirements depends on how you handle the soil and what you add to it. Keep in mind that the handling and amendment of your soil might change depending on your zone, types of plants, and location.
For example, you’ll need a bit more nitrogen in your soil if you’re planting highly demanding crops like cucumbers and tomatoes. However, to keep this simple, we’ll aim to create the perfect “generalist” soil so that you can plant almost anything inside with no apparent issues.
Follow these steps to create good soil for outdoor gardening:
1. Handle the Compaction
Compaction is your first enemy if you plan to plant anything directly in your garden. In other words, compaction is when your soil particles are pressed too hard together.
This compaction results from continuous pressure on the surface. That could’ve been because of cars, tractors, and lawnmowers.
The problem with compaction is how difficult it is for anything to go through the soil. For starters, it makes it very challenging for the roots to penetrate and expand through the soil.
It also causes anaerobic pockets which favor the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. Furthermore, it hinders gas exchange which makes it harder for your plant to breathe.
You can test for compaction by using a penetrometer, or by simply dipping a metal rebar or a screwdriver into the soil and seeing how deep it goes. If you can effortlessly push the rebar at least five inches into the soil, then the compaction isn’t too bad for your plants to thrive.
You can handle the compaction by aerating the soil using an aerator. Follow this by top dressing using compost manure, then finish by fertilizing.
2. Add Your Amendments
Garden soil can be too sandy or too compacted to be used on its own. A sandy soil won’t hold water enough for your plants to utilize that water, while a compacted one is too hard for your plants to grow in.
While trying to handle sandy soil, you’ll constantly add water to the soil in hopes of helping the plant grow, but you’ll only be making things worse since you’ll be washing away the nutrients.
Moreover, if you somehow manage to grow plants in sandy soil, the looseness of the soil will prevent it from keeping your plants upright, and you’ll end up with broken or bent plants.
That’s why you’ll need to add amendments like composted bark, composted manure (cow or chicken), and used mushroom compost.
These organic amendments will improve the sandy soil’s water-holding ability. They will also loosen your soil if you have compacted, clay soil.
3. Use an Adequate Amount of Water
Using water is an obvious step to prepare the soil for planting. However, what’s not obvious is the amount and type of water you should use.
Generally, you should aim to keep your soil moist but not stagnant or dry. To do that, you’ll need to do something called the finger dip test. If the soil doesn’t leave any wet remnants on your finger, it’s getting too dry.
The type of water also matters. Distilled water help plants grow faster and healthier than usual tap water. Adding sugar or salt to water isn’t recommended as it could damage the plants.
4. Use Cover Crops (Optional)
Cover crops are those plants you use to cover the soil. These plants aren’t to be harvested, and they serve to keep your soil healthy.
These cover crops will manage your soil’s erosion, quality, water, fertility, and pests. The most common example of cover crops is grass.
Cover crops aren’t a must, but they can make your life easier.
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When to Use Soil Mix for Gardening?
The phrase “soil mix” for plants is like a “recipe” to humans. The soil mix is a combination of nutrients, soil stabilizers, and fertilizers that plants thrive.
You should use a soil mix whenever you plant, as it’s difficult for your garden soil to be ready for planting without being conditioned first.
Keep in mind that, despite being used interchangeably, there’s a difference between soil and potting mix.
Soil mix may or may not contain pure soil in the mixture. However, Potting mix is always a soil-less composition of organic materials like peat moss.
In other words, the potting mix contains no dirt to improve water drainage. The small size of pot soil compared to garden soil increases the risk of water stagnation.
That’s why the absence of dirt is necessary for appropriate drainage.
How to Choose a Good Soil Mix?
Choosing a good soil mix is essential for the growth of your plant. Follow these steps to do so:
1. Potting Mix
You should opt for a potting mix if you’re planting in pots or garden beds. Since potting mix doesn’t contain any soil or dirt, then we can consider it sterile.
A sterile mix doesn’t contain the pathogens that cause most plant diseases. Instead, it’s a mixture of helpful components like peat moss, coconut coir, perlite, and sphagnum moss.
The absence of dirt also improves the drainage of the mixture, which is required for potted plants that are more prone to water stagnation and root rot.
2. Soil Mix
Soil mix is the mixture you add to your garden soil to improve its ability to grow plants. It’s a much heavier form of soil than potting mix. It also contains actual dirt.
The presence of dirt makes this soil non-sterile and prone to pathogens. That’s why you should monitor plants that are planted directly in the garden more than your potted plants.
Much like potting mix, soil mix also contains perlite and peat moss, but it also contains garden loam and mature compost.
3. Compost
Compost is arguably your main soil amendment if you plan to plant directly in your garden soil. A good compost should contain shredded twigs, leaves, manure, mushroom, and kitchen scraps.
There are different manufacturers of compost, but it’s one thing that you shouldn’t save money while buying.
4. Dirt
Dirt is the primary separator between potting mix and soil mix. Avoid using dirt to reduce the risk of pathogens if you’re going to plant in pots.
On the other hand, if you’re planting in your garden, dirt is inevitable.
5. Fertilizer
Compost and fertilizer are terms that many people confuse. While compost provides nourishment for your soil, fertilizer nourishes your plants.
Much like compost, you should invest in fertilizers. Mixing your compost and fertilizer is also an excellent way of getting reliable results.
That’s It
That’s all you need to know about outdoor soil before starting to experiment in your garden. All you have to do is to ensure that your soil isn’t compacted, and that you’re using the correct amendments, compost, and fertilizer.
Make sure to use the appropriate amount of clean water depending on your plant’s needs, and keep testing the soil’s moisture to keep the water levels just right.