How to Select Planting Materials

Selecting the proper planting material is an essential step in preparing your soil. Chances are your soil is not perfect, so you will need to determine what your soil lacks in order to know what to add to it. Furthermore, plants differ in their soil preferences so if you have a particular plant already picked out for a certain location, it would be in your best interest to figure out what type of soil the plant likes and build up your native soil accordingly.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• Sphagnum Peat Moss
• Compost, manure or biosolids
• Vermiculite
• Sand
• Peat
• Wood Chips
• Fertilizer
• Lime

Instructions

Selecting Materials

1. Dig into your native soil about a foot or two deep and analyze it. Take note whether you have clay or sandy soil. This will be important to know for later on when you are adding new planting materials to it. Laboratory testing is available to determine the salt level, soil pH and percent of organic material in the soil but it can be expensive and is not usually necessary for most common plantings.

2. Test your soil to determine its pH. Most garden centers sell do-it-yourself pH test kits and some will even do this testing for you if you ask. Once you have determined your soil pH you will be able to adjust it according to the needs of your particular plant. Note that most soils do not need an extensive amount of pH conditioning, but if it is necessary you can find soil acidifiers like aluminum sulfate at your local garden center. If you need to make your soil less acidic then you can add some granulated lime to it.

3. Add soil amendments based on what you have found out thus far about your native soil. If you have very sandy soil, add sphagnum peat moss to increase its ability to retain water. If you have clay soil, add peat or wood chips to improve the porosity and permeability of the soil. Adding vermiculite is a great way to add permeability and water retention to any soil.

4. Add organic material. This step is especially important when preparing an area that has never had plants in it before. Adding manure, compost or biosolids to the soil will add essential nutrients to it. Raw manure may be attractive because it can be cheap, but it has a high level of ammonia which will be potentially damaging to plants, so you will want to use composted manure instead.

5. Add fertilizer to the mix to add even more nutrients or correct particular nutrient deficiencies. Choosing the right fertilizer may seem difficult, but if you have a new planting look for fertilizers labeled "starter fertilizers", which are usually high in phosphorus to stimulate root growth. If you are simply conditioning an area do not worry about applying a fertilizer at this time. If you know that a particular nutrient is lacking from your soil, either from experience or from soil-test results, find and mix into your soil a little bit of fertilizer containing that particular nutrient to correct the problem.

Tips & Warnings

• Always mix your planting material in well with your native soil; simply placing the planting material in the hole will not suffice.

• You do not need to replace your native soil with your new planting materials unless it is very unsuitable for planting.

• If your soil has a high salt content, avoid using manure as a soil amendment. Instead, use compost made from purely plant sources.

• Biosoilds are by-products of sewage treatment that are used to fertilize plants. If you consider using a biosolid as a soil amendment, make sure it is a Grade 1 biosolid to ensure its purity. In addition, the use of biosolids is not recommended for gardens with root crops (such as potatoes).

References

• Natural Sustainable Agriculture Information Service: Alternative Soil Amendments
• Colorado State University Extension: Choosing a Soil Amendment