Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gardening

Worried about soil depletion? How to make sure your garden’s soil is nutrient rich year-round

Rebecca Wolken
By

Veteran and newbie gardeners know that soil is vital to the success of their gardens. So how do you know if you have healthy soil, and what do you do if it needs some help? Below we’re going to walk through how to test and amend your soil to prepare it for the next growing season – even if it’s just around the corner!

How to know if your soil needs help

Before adding anything to your soil, it’s best to start by observing what is already going on beneath the surface. Without the need for a test, you can learn a lot about the health of your soil with these five at-home tests.

worms
sippakorn yamkasikorn on Unplash

Soil organisms

Dig a hole in your garden to watch what crawls around. See how many varieties of insects live there and how active they are. If you don’t see more than five after 10 minutes, your soil might need some help with nutrients.

Recommended Videos

Soil structure

While digging that hole for the bug test, what did you notice about the soil’s structure? Was it clumpy, compacted, or really loose? Did you see a lot of sand or gravel? Was it a dark brown or light and tan? Depending on what you’re growing, these can be signs that your soil needs some help. Hard and compacted soil usually means your soil needs more aeration, and things like earthworms and bugs won’t be able to crawl around and leave beneficial deposits.

Root development

When pulling up plants that you’re harvesting, take a moment to check the roots’ structure. How did they develop as they grew within your soil? Loose and neatly spread out roots mean your soil has a healthy amount of aeration and nutrients throughout. A plant with roots that grew in one direction or compacted might mean you have hard ground that doesn’t have much plant food.

pH levels

This test is easiest with a kit from a store, but there are plenty of home and DIY tests you can use to find out your soil’s pH level. Some plants prefer more acidic or alkaline soil; however, either extreme can damage plants and could even kill them. Find out where your soil stands and add it to the list of notes.

How to refresh soil in the offseason

The tests mentioned above are great ways to check in with your soil after years of planting, but the best way to care for your garden’s soil is prevention and proactive care. To heal the ground over winter and prepare it for next year, try using these three soil-amending techniques.

Add compost

It doesn’t matter if it’s store-bought or homegrown; compost provides your soil with all the essential vitamins and minerals it needs to grow happy and healthy plants. At the end of each season, cut your leftover crops down to the ground. Do not pull them up from the roots unless they are diseased. Leaving in the roots provides food and aeration for the soil. Once you’ve removed excess plant matter, dump your compost on top of the soil without tilling. Tilling can kill and damage important micro-ecosystems within the earth that will help break down the compost to enrich the soil for the next season.

leaf pile

Pile on leaves

Now that you have a bed tucked in with healthy compost, you can cover it up with a layer of mulched leaves. This layer of insulation will keep the soil warmer during the winter and encourage insects such as earthworms to come closer to the surface. Earthworms eat, digest, and poop out nutrient-rich material that will feed your plants all spring and summer long.

Plant cover crops

If you live in a climate that doesn’t have harsh winters and you’re looking for a way to amend your soil while still growing a crop, planting cover crops might be an excellent option for you. These can be tasty ways to improve your soil while still having a productive garden bed.

Some popular cold hardy cover crops are winter rye, winter wheat, crimson clover, and winter peas.

Without going to the store for a test kit, you can find out what might be wrong with your soil just by spending a little quality time with it. Take notes all year long of what you’re noticing about your soil, and you’ll be equipped with the knowledge you’ll need to amend your soil correctly before the next growing season.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Rebecca Wolken
Rebecca Wolken
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Rebecca's has written for Bob Villa and a Cincinnati based remodeling company. When she's not writing about home remodeling…
Loofah plants are unique and interesting vegetables – here’s how to add them to your garden
How to grow and care for your own loofah plants
A ripe loofah gourd on a vine

Summer vegetable gardens are often filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans, but there are other options for more adventurous gardeners. The loofah plant, sometimes also spelled luffa, is a prime example. Loofahs are tasty, useful, a great conversation starter, and even make wonderful gifts. Want to know more about growing this unusual vegetable? Here’s your simple guide to growing loofahs.
What are loofah plants?
When you hear the word loofah, your first thought is likely the sponges — and you’d be right! Loofahs are a member of the cucumber family native to South and Southeast Asia. When the vegetables are young, they’re edible and have a flavor similar to zucchini. If the vegetables are left to mature and dry, then they can be harvested and turned into sponges.

Loofahs are warm-weather vegetables, and they don't tolerate the cold. Additionally, they are annuals. If you want to keep growing them, you’ll need to plant more each spring.

Read more
3 incredible reasons why you should be using coffee grounds in your garden
Don't throw out your coffee grounds. Find out if your garden needs them first
A succulent planted in a silver mug next to a pile of coffee grounds and coffee beans with a spoon on top

You might have heard that it's a good idea to use coffee grounds in your garden. It's often touted as a great organic fertilizer, but some gardeners are still skeptical. Should you actually be using coffee grounds in gardens, or does this advice fall a little flat?

As it turns out, it depends on your soil composition and what plants you’re growing. If you're unsure about whether this tip is right for you, don't worry! We'll walk you through when coffee grounds are perfect for your plants and when your ground is better off without the grounds.

Read more
What you need to know about electric garden fences
Details about electric fences for gardens: Precautions to setup
Squirrel eating a peach from a tree

Deer, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and other animal pests can wreck a garden in no time. To make matters worse, they have good memories. Once they’ve eaten up the lettuce in May, they’ll come back for beans in June, tomatoes in July, and corn in August. There are plenty of sprays, granules, and traps for sale at garden centers and home improvement stores, but they require regular application to work consistently. Unlike repellents and traps, electric garden fencing holds promise as a lasting animal pest deterrent.

An electric fence system creates a psychological barrier that keeps uninvited animals out. The animal touches the fence, receives a shock, and learns that this is a “dangerous” area. It quickly becomes trained to stay away from the fence. The pulsating low-voltage current that flows through the fence is not deadly to humans or animals, but the shock is an effective, uncomfortable surprise. If you're thinking about installing a new electric fence for the garden, read on to learn more.

Read more