Last summer while picking up delicious strawberries from our own garden I said to my husband: “we are so lucky that we have such great soil and it makes almost anything we plant grow nicely”.
Well, he was quick to remind me that he actually worked hard on improving the soil by adding home-made compost to it every year, bringing in horse and chicken manure from the neighbours so it’s not just magic or luck to get great soil. It takes time and effort, but the good news is: it is absolutely doable and possible for most sites.
I am happy to share with you 7 ways to improve your garden soil without spending a fortune. However, first you should answer these three questions:
1) What type of soil you have in your garden? Silty, loamy, sandy or a combination of those?
2) What is your soil pH level? Is it neutral, acidic or alkaline?
3) What plants do you want to grow? Each plant has its own requirements for soil.
For most plants though, a good soil drains freely, is fertile (contains plenty of nutrients), holds moisture (doesn’t dry out too quickly after watering and isn’t water repellent), is loose and easy to dig.
Depending on your answers you will decide what amendments to add to make your soil better.
7 Ways to Improve Your Garden Soil for FREE
1. Chopped leaves.
Turn fallen leaves into the fuel for your next season’s garden. Every fall you can find them in your garden unless all your trees are evergreen (in this case you might visit your neighbours and collect their leaves, I’m sure they will be happy to get rid of them).
Leaves are packed with trace minerals that trees take from deep in the soil. When added to your garden, leaves feed earthworms and beneficial microbes. They lighten heavy soils and help sandy soils retain moisture. They’re a fabulous source of carbon and will balance the nitrogen from fresh grass clippings in your compost pile. And they also help insulate tender plants from cold when applied as mulch.
Keep in mind that if you chop the leaves before adding them to the ground they will decompose faster. Shredding prevents the leaves from packing together into layers that won’t let water or air penetrate. And it reduces the volume dramatically.
Word of caution: walnut, eucalyptus and camphor laurel leaves contain substances that prevent plants from healthy growth. It’s best to compost these leaves before using them in your garden. Another tip: I never put fallen leaves from my roses to compost, I collect them in late fall and burn them as they might contain diseases and I don’t want them to spread in my garden.
We have a couple of large trees next to our veggie garden and we let all the fallen leaves stay on our vegetable patch throughout the winter. Then we work them into the soil with a rototiller in fall and in spring before planting. You can also use them as base if you use no-till gardening.
Some suggest leaving the fallen leaves on your grass lawn (It’s not what I do as I like to see my lawn as clean as possible at all times but that’s just me). Mow over them with your grass mower and rake them, they make an excellent compost to your grass lawn. If you have too many leaves, put them in your compost pile.
2. Grass clippings.
Grass clippings are a great source of nitrogen (same as manure). Nitrogen is used by plants for lots of leaf growth and good green colour. Nitrogen feed soil plants and soil organisms. That’s why it is very important to garden growth and long-term soil health.
Fresh grass clippings are too hot to be used as mulch and may burn your plants. You have two options here after you cut them off your lawn:
1. Put them into your compost bin, the heat is much needed in there.
2. ‘Cool them off’ or dry them before adding next to your plants.
In our garden we use a robot lawn mower and it’s such a time saver! It is programmed to work from 7 am till 7 pm on weekdays. All clipped grass remains on the lawn and feeds it all year round.
3. Food Compost.
You probably heard of benefits of banana peels, eggshells, coffee grounds. If you enjoy cooking, then you produce an abundance of food scraps every time you’re in the kitchen! They are excellent compost material. Composting is a great way to make something beneficial for your plants, while reducing your home’s weekly waste production and carbon footprint.
Start making compost from your kitchen scraps. In our family we usually compost all leftovers from veggies, fruits, eggshells, bread, pasta, grains. Do not add animal products (meat, fish, seafood, bones, fat, skin), dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.), oils and any other animal waste.
Organic household scraps are high in nitrogen and are known as “green” composting material. But this is not enough for good compost. For successful composting you need to mix this with plenty of “brown” materials which have a high carbon content. These include dry leaves and plants, used paper coffee filters, newspapers, dead plant clippings, wood branches, hay, straw, sawdust, and pine needles.
Collect it for a year, sprinkle with water when it’s hot outside (do not let it dry), then mix it with soil before planting in spring.
While compost is great for improving overall soil health, additional nitrogen sources are needed for your garden soil when using compost as an amendment.
4. Coffee Grounds.
Hey, all coffee lovers! After you enjoy your cup of coffee, don’t throw it away. Coffee grounds will improve your soil structure and even help to repel certain pests. The grounds are high in nitrogen, which is great for those heavy feeders in your garden. Mixing them together with your leaf mould will make the perfect mulch for your garden. You can use them separately or simply mix with other food leftovers in your compost.
Some think that coffee grounds are highly acidic making them perfect for those acid loving plants such as azaleas, hydrangeas, blueberries, and lilies. However, it is not true. Used coffee grounds have neutral pH of 6.5 and will not affect the acidity of the soil.
If you add coffee grounds directly to the soil don’t forget to mix them in. Don’t dump them on unless you want mould around your garden.
If you are not a coffee fan, check with your local coffee houses if they want to dispose of all those grounds!
5. Manure
Manure is an organic matter derived from animal wastes. It is environmentally friendly and contains nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These nutrients help boost the growth of plants and vegetables in your home garden.
Mixing manure with sandy soils helps to retain moisture levels. Adding manure to compacted soil helps loosen the soil. Manure produces increased soil carbon, which is an important source of energy that makes nutrients available to plants.
The most common types of manure used in gardening are chicken, cow, horse, sheep, goat, rabbit.
Chicken Manure: highest in nitrogen, but also one of the “hotter” options. It definitely should be composted and aged well before applying.
Horse Manure: may contain the most weed seeds (although if the compost pile reaches a high enough temperature, this can reduce the weed seeds).
Cow Manure: a great all-purpose manure that doesn’t burn plants as easily, due to a lower nitrogen content. Generally has less weed seeds than horse manure.
Goat/Sheep Manure: a drier manure that is less smelly and gentle to plants (won’t burn as easily). The little pellets make it easy to apply, too.
Rabbit Manure: this is considered a “cold” manure, so you can add it directly to plants, with no worry of it burning plants. Just grab some of the “pellets” and sprinkle away! They will disintegrate slowly over time and release their nutrients into the soil as they break down.
All manure should be well-aged before applying to the soil, so if you get it from outside make sure to ask how long it has been aged. Fresh manure has a stronger odour and as a result, attracts flies. Fresh manure can decrease seed germination and burn seedlings. It may also contain pathogens and seeds from plants that you may not want to grow in your garden. To solve these issues, leave the manure to break down at least for 1-6 months.
One of the best ways to use manure as plant fertilizer is by mixing it in with compost. Composting manure eliminates the possibility of burning the plants. Another option is to till it into the soil prior to spring planting. Generally, fall is the best time to add manure in the garden. This allows plenty of time for the manure to break down, eliminating the threat of burning the plants in the garden.
If you don’t have any of the animals yourself, check in your local community: your neighbours, local farms, horse riding schools. Be sure to ONLY use manure from animals who have NOT been grazing or eating hay from fields sprayed with herbicides.
6. Wood Ash.
If you have a fireplace, you should have the wood ash. Adding wood ash to your garden soil helps increase the pH of your soil thanks to calcium in it. It makes soil more alkaline (which means that you should not use wood ash next to your acid-loving plants such as blueberries, azaleas, rhododendrons and magnolias).
Wood ash is not as effective in reducing soil acidity as limestone but with repeated use, it can drastically raise the pH value of a soil, especially if the soil is sandy in texture. Spread the ash in fall, and throughout winter, but stop using it a few weeks before spring planting.
Wood ash also contains a good amount of potassium and many micronutrients from the trees. If your soil has a potassium deficiency, wood ashes can be a good amendment.
Ashes should not come in contact with germinating seedlings or plant roots as they may cause damage. Check the soil pH annually especially if you use wood ashes. Avoid using large amounts of wood ashes because excessively high pH values and subsequent nutrient deficiencies may result. Coal ashes do not have any lime value and may actually be acidic dependent on the source.
Here are some other benefits of using wood ash. Slugs and snails are repelled by wood ash because it acts much like salt and desiccates their bodies. I have not tried this yet but will do it this year (we have a lot of slugs because it rains a lot in Sweden in summer) and let you know what happens in my garden. Look for my IG posts and stories @GardeningWithLarissa
Wood ash can also be used to smother aphids. Dust a fine layer onto infested plants, coating the aphids. You can hose the ash off the plants once it has done its job.
7. Wood chips.
Wood chips are one of the best mulches for trees and shrubs but may not be the best for annuals and vegetables. They provide natural texture that sets off plants and reduces weeds along with a host of other benefits. Wood chips will slowly break down, releasing nutrients to the soil.
Wood chips are easy to apply and help create beautiful design elements with its natural textures setting off your plants. Do not apply too close to the stems or trunks, remember: no mulching volcanos but rather mulching donuts 
Some use wood chips for creating pathways in the garden. Use landscaping fabric and/or carton and newspaper under wood chips to stop weeds growing through it.
If you chop your wood to heat your house like we do in winter, or you get wood for your fireplace, then you might already have the wood chips available. You can always get wood chips for free in the local tree chopping services, or wood workshops, or your local electric company. (They’re constantly trimming and removing trees that are threatening power lines, so you might be lucky to find wood chips there).
Type this in your Google search: Where to find wood chips near me and you should have plenty of options to check.
Now that you know 7 ways how to improve your garden soil without breaking a bank, you might wonder when is the good time to add all these magical amendments to your soil?
Autumn is the best season to start. Mix organic material directly into the top 2 inches (5 cm) of soil with a heavy bladed hoe and cover with mulch. Ideally, add concentrated manures and lime (if you need to reduce acidity) at the same time. Adding these materials in the fall gives them time to break down for use when plants need them in the spring. However, you can always add compost and aged manure to your soil in spring just before you plant. This is what we do in our garden and it works like magic!
Share this post with your friends who want to start gardening. Leave your comments and questions below and I will be happy to reply.
Happy gardening!
Larissa
