What to Put in the Soil for Your Flower Bed
Growing the largest, most beautiful flowers is easy when you amend the soil in the flower bed. Most flowers are big feeders and greatly benefit when grown in fertile, friable soil that holds moisture, but is not soggy. It's best to prepare the soil before you plant flowers. If your flower bed is already planted, amend the soil by topdressing. Add the amendments and nutrients to the surface and incorporate them as you go about gardening. Does this Spark an idea?
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Improve Texture
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Nothing beats peat moss for improving the texture of the soil in your flower bed. It will help break up clay soil, making it drain easier. It also holds water, helping sandy soil stay moist longer. Other organic materials that improve the texture of your soil are vermiculite, perlite, wood bark, wood chips or sawdust.
Improve Fertility
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The best thing you can add to your garden soil to increase its fertility is compost. Called black gold by gardeners, compost is the result of spent plant materials decomposing slowly over time. They turn into rich, black soil, full of nutrients and organisms that help plants grow robust and healthy. Further improve the fertility of your flower bed by adding granulated fertilizer, specially formulated for blooming plants.
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Improve Drainage
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To break up a dense, clay soil, add coarse builder's sand. The large particles will add more variety to the very small particle size of clay soil, helping to create air pockets, which help water drain more rapidly. Do not use fine sand in clay soil. It will mix with the clay and turn into cement, crusting over and becoming impermeable when it dries out.
Peat moss helps with drainage as well, adding texture to soil. The different-sized particles create air pockets, which help water drain away faster in clay soil. Peat moss also retains moisture, which is beneficial for sandy soil. The large particles in sandy soil cause water and nutrients to drain away before plants have a chance to absorb much of them. Peat moss holds more moisture in sandy soil, helping plants to get more water and more nutrients.
Adjust pH Level
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A science unto itself, adjusting the pH level of your garden soil is easy when you get your soil tested by your local county extension office. They will test the pH level in the soil samples you send them, and tell you exactly what and how much chemical or organic nutrients to add to bring the pH of your flower bed into the ideal range for growing plants.
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