How to Improve your Garden Soil

Generally when you buy a home in tract neighborhoods the top soil has been scraped off and sold by the developers, it is replaced with grass seed or grass sod.  This is how these neighborhoods come up with nicely graded uniform yards.  However the land you are left with is not very good if you wish to plant a garden.

In this article I will discuss one method of improving your garden soil yourself.  There are several ways to improve your soil such as using raised beds with purchased soil and mulch, or mixing gardening soil in with your existing soil.  However the most economical way of improving your soil is with your own household waste.  This method takes a bit longer than the others, but it gives you a good sense of accomplishment once you are done.

The first thing you should do is break up the hard soil you currently have.  If your yard is difficult to dig and breakup, chances are your garden will have a hard time growing there as well.  You will probably have to come back and break up the soil several times during your soil improvement exercise.

Secondly, you need to start collecting organic materials to put in your garden.  Household waste such as fruit and vegetable waste and other food scraps are exelent sources of nutrients for your garden.  You don't have to wait for it to spoil, just collect the waste as you make it.  Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to keep a plastic bag by your kitchen sink; anything solids you would normally throw down the disposal should be placed in the bag instead.  Regularly dump the material into the tilled up soil to prevent fruit fly problems in-doors.  Depending on the amount of material you put in your garden, you may notice in increase in the number of bugs around it.  If this begins to be a problem, scale back somewhat on the amount of material you are putting in your soil.

Another source of organic waste is yard waste, when you mow your lawn, collect some of the yard clippings and till them into your soil.  You can also store yard waste in piles on the ground, large bags or other containers to allow them to compost over time - evenutually you can add this material to your soil as well.  At the end of your gardening seasons, be sure to till your old garden plants back into the soil, to help replace any nutrients in the soil the plants may have extracted.

To recap, here are the suggestions again:

• Regularly break up soil
• Collect and incorporate kitchen waste
• Mulch in yard waste
• Store extra yard waste for future mulching use
• Optionally add purchased mulches and soils

This process will not improve your soil quickly, it will probably take at least one season before you notice a difference in your soil - However, dedicated effort will pay off and reward you beutifully.  If you choose to suppliment your soil improvement efforts with purchased soils, mulches and other techniques, the process will be quicker without adding significant costs.