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Related readings:

• What is organic soil?
• Organic and Non-organic Soil Components

Learn About Different Type Of Soil Texture

Author: Juliet S Sadler

The most important factor when beginning to cultivate your garden is to know your soils texture -- whether it's sand, silt, clay, or something else. Testing the texture is something that every gardener can do at home. To get a general idea of your soil texture, the test you need to perform is quite simple. Take a handful of moist soil and roll it between your palms until it forms a sausage shape. If it feels gritty and breaks apart immediately, the soil is predominately sand. If the soil feels smooth, and holds its shape for a short time before breaking apart, it's mostly silt. However, if it feels sticky and holds together, then it's clay. Even without knowing the soil's exact texture, it's a safe bet that adding organic matter will help.

Soil Types

Sands are not necessarily all sand, nor are clays necessarily all clay. In between these two extremes there are a number of different textural classes.

Sandy Soil

Coarse-textured soils, which include sands, loamy sands and sandy loams, are valuable not just because they are easy to cultivate but also for the fact that they are able to warm up quickly in spring. They drain well so the plants do not stand with their roots in water for too long. However, as they drain quickly so plants need to be regularly watered and fed if they are to thrive. Sandy soil feels rough and gritty when handled. They are usually a reddish brown colour and easy to dig. One advantage is that they very quickly warm up in the spring, so sowing and planting can be done earlier in the year than it can in clay soils. However they may lack nutrients because much of it is washed through the soil in wet weather.

Silty Soil

This soil type is richer in nutrients than sandy soil; it is also heavier because it can retain moisture and has a tendency to become compacted. It does however tend to drain well and much easier to cultivate than clay.

Clay Soils

Clay soils are generally termed heavy soils, being weighty to lift and difficult to work. Drainage is usually bad and they are acid, clinging to the feet in wet weather. Clay particles provide the smallest soil fragments, so they naturally pack down very closely. A sponge-like substance called a Colloid surrounds each separate particle. During wet weather these absorb moisture and become sticky, pressing the particles still more tightly together. In dry weather they lose moisture and shrink; we must all have seen at some time or other, clay soil that has severely cracked after several weeks of dry weather. To combat these conditions we should add lime, gypsum and work in plenty of compost, which will help to separate the soil and give it texture. Work in materials such as straw, manure and rough compost. If lime is required a top-dressing every third year should work wonders.

When preparing the beds for vegetables in clay soil, the organic fertilizer should be added at a rate of two bucketfuls to the sq. yd. If the soil is heavy clay and needs drainage, then it might be advisable to seriously consider having land drain s, pipes laid below the soil. The pipes are obtained in fixed lengths and may be earthenware, tile, plastic or concrete. Alternatively, drainage trenches can be dug. The trenches should be 2 ft. (60cm) deep, the main trench being 1 ft. (30cm) wide and running to the lowest part of the garden. The side trenches should be narrower and should run diagonally into the main trench. The bottom can be filled with large stones, clinkers, rubble and other similar material through which the water can percolate.

Though trenches are not as effective on land with excessive drainage problems, if pipes are out of the question for financial or structural seasons, it will never the less help to elevate some of the problem. If on the other hand these too are not an option, then raised beds could be the answer.

Loamy Soil

In the medium -textured soil group are loams, which contain sand, silt and clay, in such well-balanced proportions that none produces a dominating influence. These are amongst the most fertile soils. With pro per management almost any crop can be grown in them. They warm up quickly in spring and rarely dry out in summer. Loamy soil is brown and wonderful crumbly, the perfect medium, one that is suitable for most plants. Its texture is similar to that found on well worked allotments, it is easy to dig and naturally high in nutrients, if you have this then you are extremely lucky!

Chalk Soils

Chalk soils are very variable, for their fertility depends largely on the depth of soil overlaying the chalk bed formation. If the topsoil is thin the ground will be poor and hungry. It will be bone dry in summer and the plants will need far more watering and feeding than on any other soil. If however, it is fairly deep, good growing conditions are possible. Chalky soils are often sticky and soft in wet weather; you can help this situation by building up a good layer of topsoil by working in plenty of manure and compost. In these conditions, green manures are particularly beneficial. In chalky soils potash is often deficient so use sulphate of potash 1/2 - 1 oz. per sq. yd. the alternative is wood ashes 8 oz. per sq. yd. as a spring top dressing.

Peaty Soil

Though peaty soils are uncommon they do occur in fen or boggy areas. Peat is composed of excessive quantities of humus and is associated with water- logging. The soil is usually very acid, dark brown in colour, fibrous and spongy in texture and contains few nutrients. It does have one advantage in that it warms up quickly in spring. The best way to work it is to add drainage, add lime occasionally to correct acidity. It is excellent for plant growth if fertiliser is added.

Soil Fertility

One simple way of checking if your soil has good fertility is to wait until spring while soil is moist and warm (at least 55 F), find an area of the garden where the ground is o covered by mulch or green manure, and dig up a clod 1 ft. (30cm) square by 6-inch (15cm) deep. Place the soil on a piece of wood or cardboard, and count the earthworms in the mass of soil. If you find 10 or more earthworms, your soil has good fertility.

About the Author:

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What is Organic Soil?

Organic soil is gardening soil which contains only ingredients which have been certified as organic. There are a number of types of organic soil, including organic potting soil, organic soil for backfill, and organic soil specifically designed for vegetable or flower gardens. Many gardening stores carry organic soil in a variety of formats, along with other organic gardening accessories, like organic mulch.

While one might not necessarily think of soil as “inorganic” in the sense of “unnatural,” many commercial soils include high levels of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. Soil is usually designed to encourage rapid, healthy plant growth while discouraging insects, fungi, and weeds, and commercial soil accomplishes this at any cost. Organic soil, by contrast, does not contain chemical ingredients, providing a rich substrate for plants to grow and using natural means in an attempt to control pests.

Instead of using chemical fertilizers, organic soil is amended with compost from organic sources, and manure from organically-fed animals. It may also be amended with things like mycelium, which helps the soil retain water and nutrients, along with organic mulch to aerate the soil and make it looser. Just like standard commercial soil, organic soil can be formulated for specific environments and uses, with varying pH balances and levels of nutrients. Good organic soil is extremely dark, moist, and fragrant.

For gardeners, there are several advantages to organic soil. Some gardeners prefer to grow organic, in which case organic soil is their only option. Organic soil is also less likely to produce harmful runoff which could cause problems in local waterways, making it a more environmentally-sound choice than commercial soil. Some people also think that organic soil is better for the Earth and the garden, since it promotes slow, healthy plant growth, rather than rapid growth, which may strip the soil of nutrients.

Bags of organic soil can be purchased for various gardening applications, and it can also be delivered by the truckload. Some people use organic soil for backfill, digging out and removing exhausted, rocky, or contaminated soil and replacing it with new organic soil. Organic soil can also be spread on top of existing soil, adding a layer to the garden, which can be useful when people want to raise the height of their yards or flowerbeds.

Organic soil tends to be more expensive than conventional soil, and some gardeners prefer to build their own, working with organic compost, manure, and other ingredients to slowly build up the soil in their gardens. Ultimately, the choice between organic and conventional soil lies in the hands of the gardener. Gardeners who are worried about cost might want to look into sales at regional garden suppliers or government programs which help gardeners buy clean soil after contamination, plant disease, flooding, and similar incidents.

(from the Wise Geek)

 

Organic and Non-organic Soil Components:

2.1 Types of Organic Compounds

2.1.1. Non-humic substances
2.1.2. Humic substances

Soil organic components

2.1. Types of organic compounds

Soil organic matter (SOM) can be of plant, animal, or microbial origin and may be relatively fresh or highly decomposed and transformed. In this course, terms “soil organic matter” and “humus” are considered synonyms.

One of many definitions of soil organic matter states that “it is a complex and rather resistant mixture of brown or dark brown amorphous and colloidal organic compounds that result from microbial decomposition and synthesis and has chemical and physical properties of great significance to soils and plants”.

Many species of fungi and bacteria soil particles decompose soil organic matter. The fungi and bacteria that can break down the woody tissues and cellulose of intact leaves, stems and dead roots of plants perform the function of decomposition of organic matter that often builds humus and returns nutrient back to the soil. When the species that are capable of decomposition are lacking, leaves and other organic matter remain intact and the food energy they contain are not released to drive the foodweb.

Soils may vary greatly in their organic matter contents. For example, a typical prairie grassland soil (Chernozem) may contain 5-6% SOM (by weight) in surface horizons, sandy desert soil may have <1% of SOM, while Organic soils (by definition) contain >30% SOM (by weight).

A simple test that allows qualitative comparison of soil organic matter content:

a) holds soil particles together and stabilizes the soil, thus reducing the risk of erosion;

b) aids crop growth by improving the soil's ability to store and transmit air and water;

c) stores and supplies many nutrients needed for the growth of plants and soil organisms;

d) prevents or minimizes soil compaction;

e) retains carbon from the atmosphere;

f) reduces the negative environmental effects of pesticides, heavy metals, and many other pollutants.

2.1.1. Non-humic substances

The physically and chemically heterogeneous mixture of materials that make up SOM varies substantially in terms of quantity and resistance to biological decomposition.

SOM includes primary components that are inherited from plant and animal residues entering the soil. Primary components are sometimes referred to as non-humic substances. These compounds are relatively easily decomposed by microorganisms and they persist in soil for a brief time (e.g. several months or years). They make about 20-30% of total SOM. These include

• carbohydrates and several derivatives (monosaccharides, and polisaccharides such as cellulose, hemiscellulose)
• amino acids and several derivatives (proteins)
• lignin (condensed polyphenil-propane structures of extremely large molecular weight, very resistant to microbial decomposition)
• lipids (a class of organic compounds which is a convenient analytical group rather than a specific type of compound. They include fats, oils, waxes, phospholipids, and resins)
• a variety of other compounds.

2.1.2. Humic substances

SOM also includes secondary compounds, compounds formed within the soil by breaking down organic structures and synthesizing new ones. The secondary components include carbohydrates, amino acids, lipids and others, more or less resembling many primary components. In addition, secondary components also include humic substances, which are rather different from most primary components.

Humic substances are products of biochemical decomposition. They are complex substances of high molecular weight, which are resistant to further decomposition. Consequently they tend to accumulate in the soil. Most are dark and are hence responsible for the dark soil color that is commonly associated with soils of high organic matter content. Humic substances make up 60-80% of total SOM.

Humic substances can be classified based on their behavior in acids and bases. There are three general groups of humic substances: (1) fulvic acids, (2) humic acids, and (3) humin. These three groups are nondescript mixtures of many chemical compounds and should not be considered as distinct chemical entities.

Humins are particles with large molecular weight, relatively small specific surface area, relatively low number of carboxyl groups, and are inactive.

Humic acids are smaller in size then humins (approximately colloid-sized) and have more carboxyl groups than humins.

Fulvic acids are the smallest in size among humic substances, and have a large number of carboxyl groups per unit mass. For tis reasonthey are the most active among humic substances.

The humic substances posses carboxyl groups (*R-COOH), which give them their acidic character and make them effective in buffering soil pH:

R-COOH ↔ R-COO- + H+

*R represents any number of organic compounds.

In a common range of soil pH the overall charge on SOM is negative, due to dissociation of hydrogen ions from carboxyl and other functional groups.

Courtesy of Faculty of Land and Food Systems of British Columbia and Agricultural University of Wroclaw