Get answers to your most common garden soil questions here!

How many types of soil are there?

There are four main types of soil – clay, sandy, silty, and loamy. Clay soil is heavy, sticky, and prone to waterlogging, while sandy soil is light, gritty, and drains rapidly. Silty soil holds nutrients well but can compact easily. The ideal soil type for most gardens is loamy soil, which has a blend of clay, sand, and silt to create a loose and nutrient-rich environment for plant roots. Adding organic matter like compost can help improve any soil type.

What is the best compost?

The highest quality compost contains a diverse mix of organic materials broken down by fungi, bacteria, worms, and other organisms. The optimal ingredients for compost include a balance of greens like grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps, and herbaceous stems, along with browns like dried leaves, woodchips, cardboard, and woody prunings. Allow 1-2 years for the materials to fully decompose. Mature compost should have a dark color and crumbly texture without recognisable debris. Using a rich, balanced compost improves soil structure and nutrient levels for healthier plants.

How do you start living soil?

Living soil is filled with beneficial microbes and organic matter that release nutrients to plant roots. To start living soil, layer compost, aged manure, leaf mould, coco coir, worm castings, biochar, and other organic materials in raised beds or containers. Mix in mycorrhizal fungi to boost root health. Mulch heavily to retain moisture and feed soil life. Introduce earthworms and beneficial insects that till and tunnel. Include dynamic accumulators like comfrey, borage, and chickweed that mine nutrients from subsoil. Once established, living soil can sustain itself when fed annually with new organic materials.

What is the best soil for laying grass on?

Quality topsoil provides ideal conditions for establishing lawns from seed or turf. Use screened topsoil containing 40–60% sand mixed with clay and silt to allow drainage while retaining moisture and nutrients. The soil should reach 6 inches deep after settling into a prepared, weed-free base. Just before laying turf or sowing seed, mix in 1-2 inches of aged compost to introduce beneficial microbes and organic matter that grass roots thrive in. After installation, continue feeding the living soil web through regular compost topdressing and mulching to maintain lush, healthy grass growth.

What’s the difference between potting soil and dirt?

Potting soil is a soilless mix designed for growing plants in containers. It contains ingredients like peat moss, vermiculite, perlite, and compost to retain moisture while allowing drainage. Dirt dug directly from the ground makes poor potting soil because it compacts and can hold too much water. Dirt also lacks the aeration and nutrient content that container plants need to thrive. Use a quality potting mix instead of dirt or garden soil in planters and pots.

What’s the best soil for planter vegetables?

Vegetables grown in containers need loose, nutrient-rich soil to develop healthy roots in a restricted space. The best planter mix contains 1 part compost, 1 part peat or coco coir, and 1 part perlite or vermiculite to improve drainage and aeration. For added nutrition, mix in worm castings, biochar, kelp meal, and slow-release organic fertiliser at planting time. Top dress containers monthly with compost or manure during the growing season to replenish nutrients. Use quality potting soil, not straight garden soil, which compacts too readily.

How long does soil take to form?

Natural soil formation is a very slow process. Major soil types like clay, sandy, silt, and loamy soils take an average of 1000 years per inch to form. Over long periods, climate, geology, vegetation, decomposition of organic matter, burrowing creatures, and other environmental influences act upon parent rock material to create a complex soil ecosystem. However, the application of compost, manures, and other soil amendments can rapidly improve the quality and nutrient levels of garden soils.

What’s the most difficult soil to work on?

Of the main soil types, heavy clay soil is the most challenging to work with due to its dense, compacted nature. When wet, pure clay soil sticks to tools and footwear while forming thick mud. As it dries, clay shrinks and hardens into solid chunks and deep cracks. Plant roots struggle to permeate compacted clay soil, which also resists water infiltration. To improve workability, add generous amounts of organic matter like aged manure, compost, leaf mold, and wood chips. Lime and gypsum also help break up sticky clay.

How do you break up clay soil?

To transform dense, stubborn clay soil into a crumbly, nutritious medium that a plant loves, plenty of organic matter must be worked in over time. Spread 1-2 inches of compost, rotted manure, leaf compost or peat moss over the soil surface each year and dig or rototill it in. Adding gypsum at 1 pound per 100 square feet can help loosen clay particles. During the growing season, solarise clay beds by covering them with clear plastic to heat up and kill compacting microbes. Maintaining raised garden beds also avoids standing water issues.

Garden soil versus potting soil.

While plants may grow fine for a season in garden soil dumped from the yard into a container, productivity will soon decline. Garden soil contains beneficial organisms, but its structure and drainage rapidly deteriorate in pots and planters. Quality potting mixes are soilless, with ingredients like peat moss, coco coir, and vermiculite tailored for containers. They retain moisture and nutrients while resisting compaction far better than ordinary garden soil. To maintain container health, use commercial or homemade potting soil, not untreated soil dug from the ground.

What’s the best soil for plants and vegetables?

A loose, loamy texture with plenty of organic matter makes for the best garden soil to grow vegetables and plants. Loam contains a blend of sand, silt and clay particles that hold nutrients while allowing air and water flow.

The Soil Association is a great resource