Soil Amending: What It Is and How to Do It
As we prepare for a new season of gardening, one of the most important tasks on our to-do list is setting up a great foundation for your new plants. Whether you’re a first-time gardener here in the Charleston, South Carolina area or a seasoned pro, amending your soil to optimize its health should be your starting point each growing season.
But there’s a science to soil amendment— you don’t want to leave it to guesswork! Let’s dig into exactly what soil amendment is and how to properly do it.
What is soil amending?
Simply put: soil amending is adding things to your soil to make it more nutrient dense and help your garden thrive.
Why is soil amending important?
Soil amending is important because each season vital nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium are pulled from the soil, by plants. These nutrients also evaporate or get used in the production of compounds. Each growing season, plants uptaking nutrients causes the soil to change its texture and lose its fertility. It is essential that you amend the soil every time you plant a new round of plants!
What can you use to amend the soil?
While there are vast options for soil amending, Rita has some tried and true products she feels are the most effective for your soil amending needs.
Crab shells are one of Rita’s favorite options for soil amending and they will help you have ‘nomo’ nematodes! Because crab shells help foster a beneficial microbe population that combats harmful nematodes, they tend to be a good choice for those who use native topsoil. If you’re unsure if you have nematodes, adding crab shells is always a safe choice, and you can’t overdo it with crab shells, either!
While Crab shells are a three, three, three fertilizer, they aren’t quick-release, so additional fertilizers have to be added. If you chose crab shells, it should always be the first layer in the amendment process.
🌿 Rita’s Roots tip: 1-2 pounds should be enough to cover a typical 4x8 bed
🌿 Rita’s Roots tip: Always bury the crab shells, because animals are attracted to the scent. It's also a good idea to keep an eye on your pets for several days after installing the crab shells.
Next, Rita recommends worm castings. Worm castings help foster good soil fertility and biology. They also help with moisture retention and plant resilience as well as helping plants look greener and thrive overall.
Remember, healthy soil makes healthy plants!
🌿 Rita’s Roots tip: 3-5 pounds of worm casting per 32 sqft or per 4x8 bed.)
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Lastly, Rita amends her soil with alternate compost. She recommends two options Stout Oille Mater Maker compost which is a blend of local agricultural products including grass-fed beef manure, fish waste, and plant material from the cotton ginning process. This compost is made via a hot compost system.
🌿 Rita Roots tip: This compost is excellent for vegetables, herbs, annuals, perennials, or for bulb planting. )
The other brand of soil Rita recommends is Happy Frog, a California-based soil conditioner, comprised of bat guano, worm casting, humic acid, and forest products.
🌿 Rita’s Roots tip: Mater Maker requires a separate purchase of worm castings, whereas Happy Frog already contains worm castings) Happy Frog is coarser compost, whereas Mater Maker is a finer, more sand-like compost.
Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty!
How to Amend Your Soil
First, you’ll harvest, transplant, or remove any old plants from your garden bed, including the rootballs.
🌿 Rita’s Roots tip: Transplant in the evening so that the sun doesn’t stress out the plants more during an already stressful transplanting process.)
When breaking up soil, watch for resistance, checking carefully for tree roots.
🌿 Rita Roots tip: If you have trees within 50-100 feet of your garden and you haven’t lined the garden with pond liner, there’s a good chance you have tree roots in the soil. If applicable, remove roots, otherwise, the garden won’t be productive.
(If you have tree roots, keep reading, but if you don’t, skip ahead.)
To thoroughly remove tree roots, take a shovel and go around the perimeter of the garden box breaking up the roots, be sure to go down about 12 inches. Alternatively, you can excavate the soil and place it on a tarp, sifting out the roots manually. Next, you will need to line your garden boxes with either cardboard or pond liner to soil their regrowth. Remember that cardboard breaks down over time, so if you want a more permanent solution, a pond liner is the better choice.
🌿 Rita’s Roots tip: Lay the pond liner flat and tuck edges around the garden bed so it can drain out. If you don’t lay it flat, water will pool and then you’ll have a pond, not a garden!)
So you’ve broken up your soil, removed your roots, and laid down your crab shell, what’s next? Lay down your worm casting thoroughly, making sure you break it up with your hands as you go. (If you use Happy Frog compost you can skip this step!)
After that, it’s time to compost!
🌿 Rita’s Roots tip: Bring soil level to within 1-2 inches of the top of the garden bed.) Use about 2-4 inches of compost, or about 3 bags of compost per 32 sqft, the size of a 4x8 garden bed. DONT mix, as it will naturally mix as you plant and you dont want to disrupt earthworm activity and break up soil structure.
Hot composted compost, like Mater Maker or Happy Frog, should not contain any weed seeds, enabling you to be able to use it as a mulch.
🌿 Rita’s Roots tip: Using the compost as mulch should help prevent weeds in your garden.
That’s everything you need to know about soil amending, including why it’s important and how to properly do it. We covered a lot of info so if you have any questions comment them down below!
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