A Dirt Primer
© Lori Pelkowski
Make sure your dirt is soil.
There are three basic soil types, but chances are you have one of the innumerable combinations thereof.
Let's start with my favorite, since I've been working on improving it for the past 10 years: Clay. You'll know if you have clay soil by the color and feel. It will have a reddish tinge, and will hold tightly together if you squeeze a damp handful. Clay is nutrient rich, but the plants have a hard time taking up these nutrients. Clay holds water, usually too much for a plant's liking, unless the plant likes "wet feet", and does not drain well.
Then there's sand, almost the opposite of clay. Again, the color and feel will tell you that you have sandy soil. It will be on the tan side, and will not hold together well if you squeeze a damp handful. It will have a gritty feel. Sand does not hold water well, and any nutrients it may have tend to wash away easily. It drains well, usually too well, but plants that thrive in drier sites will like it.
If you are lucky, or have put some effort into improving your soil already, you have loam, what Martha Stewart liked to call "rich, crumbly, chocolate cake". It holds together just right when you squeeze a damp handful, and breaks apart easily, but not too easily. It drains well, and the plants readily take up its nutrients. Loam is what we strive to achieve when we improve, or amend, our soil.
You can add sand to clay soil to improve its drainage, just make sure it is coarse builder's sand. Any other kind will form concrete in your soil. You can add peat to sandy soil to improve its drainage, but in both cases you are only changing the soil's texture. You'll also want to increase its nutrient content, but please, do not use chemical fertilizers for this. Save the chemical fertilizers for certain plants at certain times of the growing cycle.
Manure can be added to any type of soil for fertilization, however it must be well rotted. Fresh manure is very strong and will burn your plants. Bagged manure is usually well rotted, and if you get it in bulk, make sure it is a year old at the very least. Manure does not significantly improve the texture of the soil.
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