Soil is the medium in which most plants grow. From the gardener's point of view, its most important characteristics are its depth, its texture and its chemical composition. It is essential to find out all you can about the type of soil you have, but the way in which you adapt and improve it is of even greater significance in determining what plants will grow successfully.
The arrival of children would impose many new demands, from pram-standing space to soft play areas and tricycle runs. With a growing family a bigger area of the garden might be devoted to vegetables, with a large terrace space for outdoor activities and family meals.
In some parts of the world however the soil bears no relation to the rock beneath it because it has been carried to its place by a natural force: the material pushed along by a glacier, for example, forms a type of soil known as boulder clay, and the silt washed down by rivers builds up into alluvial soils.
Digging should be done in small spadefuls at a time otherwise the task can be backbreaking. The roots of persistent weeds, such as couch grass, bindweed, dock, thistles or nettles, should be removed and later burned. When turning over a large area the best method is to dig in trenches, working with the last trench in front of you. Digging to the depth of a spade is usually sufficient but with a very heavy clay soil, or for a large vegetable patch, it may be necessary to turn over the soil to two spade-depths, known as double digging. Apart from the extra effort involved, double digging is also more complicated because it goes down to the second layer, the subsoil. It is important to keep the two layers separate, so the topsoil should be lifted out of the trench and kept aside while the subsoil is broken up and turned over. Add any organic materials at this stage, forking them in well with the subsoil.
In the family life cycle of a garden use can grow and expand and then sl reduce its scope again. The demands may vary from, at one extreme, provide a tranquil retreat after a noisy day wor in town to creating the need for phys exercise in otherwise sedentary lives.
Between topsoil and parent bed rock there may be many layers of stone and gravel, but the layer immediately beneath the topsoil is generally the subsoil. Its depth varies according to the hardness of the underlying rock and the amount of erosion it has suffered. The colour and texture of subsoil are usually different from those of the topsoil because it is in a transitional stage, without humus or organic material. For this reason, it is not a growing medium.
The arrival of children would impose many new demands, from pram-standing space to soft play areas and tricycle runs. With a growing family a bigger area of the garden might be devoted to vegetables, with a large terrace space for outdoor activities and family meals.
In some parts of the world however the soil bears no relation to the rock beneath it because it has been carried to its place by a natural force: the material pushed along by a glacier, for example, forms a type of soil known as boulder clay, and the silt washed down by rivers builds up into alluvial soils.
Digging should be done in small spadefuls at a time otherwise the task can be backbreaking. The roots of persistent weeds, such as couch grass, bindweed, dock, thistles or nettles, should be removed and later burned. When turning over a large area the best method is to dig in trenches, working with the last trench in front of you. Digging to the depth of a spade is usually sufficient but with a very heavy clay soil, or for a large vegetable patch, it may be necessary to turn over the soil to two spade-depths, known as double digging. Apart from the extra effort involved, double digging is also more complicated because it goes down to the second layer, the subsoil. It is important to keep the two layers separate, so the topsoil should be lifted out of the trench and kept aside while the subsoil is broken up and turned over. Add any organic materials at this stage, forking them in well with the subsoil.
In the family life cycle of a garden use can grow and expand and then sl reduce its scope again. The demands may vary from, at one extreme, provide a tranquil retreat after a noisy day wor in town to creating the need for phys exercise in otherwise sedentary lives.
Between topsoil and parent bed rock there may be many layers of stone and gravel, but the layer immediately beneath the topsoil is generally the subsoil. Its depth varies according to the hardness of the underlying rock and the amount of erosion it has suffered. The colour and texture of subsoil are usually different from those of the topsoil because it is in a transitional stage, without humus or organic material. For this reason, it is not a growing medium.
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