How Do I... Improve the Quality of my Soil?
A beautiful lawn starts with luscious, healthy soil – here's how to ensure your garden is nourished with the very best
Georgia Madden
17 August 2018
In this practical series, we ask experts to answer your burning home and design questions. Here, horticulturist and Yates horticultural consultant Angie Thomas reveals how you can show your soil some love and, in turn, boost the health of your plants and lawn.
I’m frequently asked for my top tip for planting success and my response is always the same – the secret is in the soil. It really is the engine of your garden. Improving the health of your soil is the number one step you can take for a healthy, productive garden.
How to recognise healthy soil
- It will usually be a rick, dark brown colour.
- When you touch it, it will feel rich, earthy and moist.
- It will include a high level of organic matter.
- You’ll find that it’s easy to dig (sandy soil can be easy to dig too, but often doesn’t contain a lot of organic matter and therefore doesn’t hold water or nutrients so well).
Be wise to signs of unhealthy soil
The symptoms of soil that’s crying out for improvement, include:
The symptoms of soil that’s crying out for improvement, include:
- It repels water (pools of water will sit on the surface for ages).
- It stays wet for a long time (common in clay soil).
- Or, dries out very quickly (common in sandy soil).
- Hard to dig.
Plants and lawns will often tell you they’re growing in poor soil by exhibiting some of the following symptoms:
- Slow or poor growth.
- Yellowing leaves (this can indicate a nutrient deficiency, pH problem or poor drainage).
- Wilting leaves (a sign the soil is not holding enough water).
Take action
You can bring out-of-condition soil back to good health by:
You can bring out-of-condition soil back to good health by:
- Adding quality organic matter: Use pelletised manures (I recommend Yates Dynamic Lifter) or try homemade compost.
- Aerate soil: Soil in garden beds or under lawns that has become hard and compacted will benefit from aeration. Push a garden fork around 10 to 15 centimetres into the soil and wiggle it back and forth to open up the soil.
- Use organic fertiliser: This will help boost the organic matter content of the soil and provide plants and lawns with gentle, slow-releasing nutrients.
Photograph: Angie Thomas
- Encourage earthworms: They break down organic matter into healthy nutrients and minerals for plants. Plus, the organic matter they recycle is a great source of food for your plants as well as a natural fertiliser. Also, when earthworms move through the soil they create tunnels and aerate the soil, making it easier for plant roots to grow and access water.
- Apply mulch over the soil: As organic mulch breaks down, it adds more organic matter to the soil. Mulch also protects soil from the elements, helping to keep it cool and moist.
- Apply a soil-wetting agent: For hard to wet soils, apply a soil-wetting agent to help break down the waxy, water-repellent layer on the soil surface.
Get pH-smart
Soil pH – the measure of the soil’s acidity or alkalinity – can influence how well plants grow.
Soil that has a neutral pH (between 6.5 to 7) is best. The more acidic (lower pH) or the more alkaline (higher pH) the soil gets, the harder it is for plants to access nutrients, which can lead to poor growth.
You can test the pH level of your soil with a simple test kit from your local garden centre or hardware store. Measure multiple spots in the garden and apply products to change the pH. With acidic soil (pH less than 6.5), for example, you can apply lime to raise the soil pH. For alkaline soil (pH greater than 7), you can apply a soil acidifier.
Soil pH – the measure of the soil’s acidity or alkalinity – can influence how well plants grow.
Soil that has a neutral pH (between 6.5 to 7) is best. The more acidic (lower pH) or the more alkaline (higher pH) the soil gets, the harder it is for plants to access nutrients, which can lead to poor growth.
You can test the pH level of your soil with a simple test kit from your local garden centre or hardware store. Measure multiple spots in the garden and apply products to change the pH. With acidic soil (pH less than 6.5), for example, you can apply lime to raise the soil pH. For alkaline soil (pH greater than 7), you can apply a soil acidifier.
Keep an eye out for pests
There are a few soil-dwelling insect pests that can cause significant damage to lawns between spring and autumn. Most notable are curl grubs and lawn army worms.
Curl grub are the larvae of scarab beetles and they chew through lawn roots. Curl grub can infest lawns between mid-spring and summer, with symptoms including yellowing, dying and dead patches of lawn. If you can roll the lawn back like a carpet, it’s another sigh you probably have curl grubs as they’ve eaten through the roots.
It’s best to control the adult African black beetle before it has a chance to lay eggs. Do this by applying a lawn insecticide in late winter and early spring. This will also keep lawn army worms at bay.
Remember well-fed, healthy lawns are better able to withstand attack from insect pests, so regularly feeding with an organic lawnfood is important.
There are a few soil-dwelling insect pests that can cause significant damage to lawns between spring and autumn. Most notable are curl grubs and lawn army worms.
Curl grub are the larvae of scarab beetles and they chew through lawn roots. Curl grub can infest lawns between mid-spring and summer, with symptoms including yellowing, dying and dead patches of lawn. If you can roll the lawn back like a carpet, it’s another sigh you probably have curl grubs as they’ve eaten through the roots.
It’s best to control the adult African black beetle before it has a chance to lay eggs. Do this by applying a lawn insecticide in late winter and early spring. This will also keep lawn army worms at bay.
Remember well-fed, healthy lawns are better able to withstand attack from insect pests, so regularly feeding with an organic lawnfood is important.
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Enriching your soil cheaply can be as easy as asking local grass cutters to spread their cuttings on your lawn area and letting it compost into the soil. My lawn / future garden area is looking very green and healthy now with very few weeds. If you have nettles growing see it for what it is a sign of great soil. A win win win since your soil is enriched, the cutter saves dumping fees and the grass is not creating methane in the dump.
Looks like we all picked up on the curl grub.