There can be different kinds of soils in your garden where you want to plant and each type of soil may have their own set of problems that you need to fix which prevents your garden to become what you want.
You need to use spreader which is known as epandeur in Canada, so that you can mix necessary compost and other fertilizers to make the soil fertile. Following are few different soils and their ways to fix the problem.
- Dry soil
For dry soils, you have to do something for improving their water retention and also add more nutrients. You can add compost and by spreading about 3” to 6” of compost layer of organic material can fix this problem.
However, you must use compost which has fully decomposed. By not totally decomposing the material, you may rob your garden few important nutrients, while compost will be breaking down.
Also, you must lay down mulch to reduce evaporation of water from soil.
- Wet soil
For too wet soil, you must do something that can add space between soil particles to offer better drainage. By making sand/gravel as part of soil can help. Also, include little organic material for improving the nutrients.
Avoid adding sand to the clay soil as the combination may become concrete. For clay soil, you can add gravel of 1-cubic yard or compost/100 square feet of your garden.
Also, try to raise the beds, so that crop areas can drain faster. Always plant in areas that are away from any natural water routes.
- Alkaline soil
For alkaline soil, check its pH and if it is high then add iron sulfate and sulfur depending on type of soil.
As per experts, apply iron sulfate little more than 7 pounds/square feet. Usually sulfur responds very slowly with soil, so you must apply a year before you are planting.
Also, monitor alkaline soils and check pH after every 1 to 2 years and fix it as needed. You may also consider for growing those plants that can easily tolerate higher pH level.
- Acidic soil
For soils with lower pH levels, the best remedy will be using lime. Such kind of soil commonly occur where there is poor drainage, high rainfall or heavy nitrogen-fertilizer is used and also plenty of evergreen trees are there.
Consult experts to decide how much lime are to be added to the soil.
