Is it possible to change the soil in your garden??
By yogirl87
@yogirl87 (98)
India
January 7, 2007 3:01am CST
I live in a lovely neighbourhood and all houses have huge gardens surrounding the bunglows.. there are huge mango and tamarind trees growing in my garden which have been groing for years... but many of the new plants, especially vegetable plants which i try to cultivate die veryt easily.. our neighbours got the soil in their garden changed (dunno how they cud do that) and their garden is really flourishing.. I didnt know that could be done and i sounds like lots of hard work, bringing in new soil and all.. does anybody know how this can be done and if it helps??
5 responses
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
• Australia
8 Jan 07
You've got impoverished soil, caused partly by the well developed fruit trees, which will drain soil of nutrients, and probably old soil which hasn't been treated for a while.
Depending on the size of the job, and being extremely careful about the tree roots, because if damaged they can allow fungal infections to attack the trees, aerate the soil, and spread some good mulch, Seaweed is excellent. Then use a drip hose to really give it some good watering. Repeat the process if necessary.
The alternative is to replace the soil entirely, literally removing it, and add worms, mulch, and soil organisms. Expensive, but worth it.
@yogirl87 (98)
• India
8 Jan 07
ok thanks a lot.. there are way too many huge trees in our garden so i guess thats one reason why the soil is impoverished... i think complete soil replacement will be really expensive as the garden is really huge, will try composting.. we dont get seeweed here unfortunately.. thanks a lot for the info though!!!!!
@peavey (16936)
• United States
8 Jan 07
You can buy topsoil and compost to add to your soil and you can also compost vegetable scraps, peelings and so on, to amend soil on your own. It takes a long time to make a lot of good compost, so you might want to buy some to start, then keep adding your own to it.
Get a book on composting at the library, or look it up online. Sheet composting is the simplest if you have the boundaries of a garden set.
Good compost is the best thing that will ever happen to a garden.
@willowchina (18)
• United States
8 Jan 07
what you want to do is add good soil to what you have now,buy the top soil and gardening soil and add it to your flower beds,plants need to get nutrients from the soil and if its old and tired the plants arent going to grow so you need to give the soil a boostand also add manure .then fertilize the plants during the growing season once a month,and deadhead the flowers do they dont waste energy producing seeds,
@coolseeds (3919)
• United States
16 May 08
Purchase SCREENED topsoil. If it is not screened it will be full of rocks and other unwanted material. Add it to the area. Add sand, compost and peat. Till the soil to mix the ingredients. Keep adding until you get the desired soil.
You should also add organic fertilizers and soil conditioners. Blood meal, green sand and bone meal are great additives.
Good Luck
