How to Prepare Soil for Planting
It is necessary to prepare soil before planting flowers, grass, seeds or vegetables. You can prepare farmland by sub soiling, analyzing the pH, ploughing and understanding the basics of planting. On the other hand, gardeners can apply these techniques on a smaller scale. This will enable you to not only gain maximum potential from the soil but also grow stronger healthier plants. Remember that preparing the soil needs time so have patience and start a few weeks before the time you want to plant.
Things Required:
– Home Soil Test Kit
– Lime
– Sulphur
– Bone Meal
– Blood Meal
– Greensand
– Black Weed Paper
Instructions
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1
Test the soil
You need to test the soil in order to find out its components. This will help determine the pH level of the soil but also find out how much nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium it contains. In order to test the soil, you can simply buy a home soil test kit from your local garden centre. -
2
Adjust the pH of the soil
After finding out the pH of the soil, you are required to either increase or decrease depending on the type of plants you are growing. If the plant requires a higher pH, you can increase it by adding lime. In order to lower the pH of soil if the plant requires, you need to add peat moss or sulphur. -
3
Adjust the nutrients of the soil
Next, you need to balance the nutrients of the soil. In order to increase the phosphorus level, you need to apply bone meal. In case the soil lacks nitrogen, you will have to add blood meal to the soil. If the soil is lacking potassium, prepare it with greensand. -
4
Loosen the soil
In order to properly aerate the soil, you need to loosen it. By doing this you will be able to work with it easily. -
5
Kill weeds
Before starting planting, you need to kill off any weeds in the soil. You can do this with the help of black weed paper or an old bed sheet to cover the area.
