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Understanding Different Soil Types

At Turning Green Plant & Lawn Care, we offer 100% organic, hybrid or traditional solutions for the health of your landscape. We want to give you the tools you need to make the exterior of your home a showplace, with lush, green trees, shrubs, lawns and gardens that are as healthy as they are attractive.

It all starts at the bottom: the soil. Knowing whether your soil type is clay, sand, silt, loam, peat or chalk will help you choose the right plantings for your garden and maintain them in good health.

Clay soils

Clay soils are rich in nutrients and very fertile if their cloddiness can be broken up by the addition of organic matter. This breaks down the clay into separate crumbs, making the water and nutrients held within the clay more easily available to plant roots.

Sandy soils

These light soils are usually low in nutrients, and lose water very quickly being particularly free-draining. You can boost the water and nutrient holding capacity of your soil by adding plenty of organic matter to bind the loose sand into more fertile crumbs.

Silt soils

These soils are made up of fine particles that can be easily compacted by treading and use of garden machinery. They are prone to washing away and wind erosion if left exposed to the elements without plant cover. However, they contain more nutrients than sandy soils and hold more water, so tend to be quite fertile.

Loams

These soils are the gardener’s best friend, being a ‘perfect’ balance of all soil particle types. But even though they are very good soils, it is important to regularly add organic matter, especially if you are digging or cultivating these soils every year.

Chalky soils

Chalky soils are alkaline, so will not support ericaceous plants that need acid soil conditions. Very chalky soils may contain lumps of visible chalky white stone. Such soils cannot be acidified, and it is better to choose plants that will thrive in alkaline conditions.

Turning Green LLC will help you create a healthy, green landscape that will have your neighbors go green with envy! For more information on our services, give us a call at 203-246-6811.