What is the most important element of your garden? What do you think? Many of you might say the plants and flowers, while some may answer your efforts. But I oppose these answers and want to direct you towards a more logical context.
From a personal point of view, soil is the most important element of a garden; without it, there are no plants and no scope to put your efforts.
Most precisely, fertile and well-structured soil is the heart of the garden, as bad-quality soil is unable to produce good crops. Unfortunately, many of us often encounter soil-related issues. Here, I list the most common soil problems and best solutions in terms of soil think up, which provides a holistic guide to exclude the bad-soil context. Let’s check out my elaborations.
Soil Think UP: A Holistic Approach for Soil Management
Well, I must admit that the term “soil think up” is a fictional concept. I follow it in developing a holistic framework for soil management. I use traditional methods and modern techniques to address common soil problems in this approach.
Soil Think Up is a guiding methodology to rejuvenate the garden’s soil. So, what do I do with this approach? I integrate sustainable gardening practices, soil conservation techniques, and the fundamentals of generative planting. You can also develop your own Soil Think Up guide by emphasizing strategies like soil testing, no-till planting, crop rotation, composting, and many more. Or else you can follow my guide.
I want to inform you that I prioritize eco-friendly gardening, so my soil management process is based on organic techniques that incorporate environmental sustainability.
10 Common Soil Problems and Solutions
The following are the soil problems that every gardener faces frequently. I also provide solutions to the issues by listing comprehensive guidelines so that you can implement them effortlessly.
#1 Soil Erosion
Soil erosion is a common problem that occurs due to wind, irrigation, and even gardening activities. It not only extracts the soil’s fertility but can also contribute to the plants’ uprooting. Mass soil erosion threatens the roots by exposing them to the outside environment.
Solution
To protect the plants, I use multiple approaches. The following are the details.
Implementing Erosion Control Measures
Regarding soil erosion control measures, I use various techniques, including contour ploughing, terracing, and creating windbreakers. The contour ploughing technique is straightforward; you must plough through the contour lines. The created trenches will slow down the water runoff, protecting the soil from being carried out.
Again, you can apply the terracing strategy if you have a large garden with designated watering channels. In this case, you create steep slopes on the trench bed to slow the water flow, protecting the soil from erosion.
Third, you can plant some bush trees throughout the boundary line of the garden. These will reduce the wind’s power, restricting soil erosion due to wind.
Protecting Soil from Erosion When No Plan on the Soil Bed
By being an eco-friendly gardener, I always rest the land after harvesting a certain vegetable or removing any flower type. Here, the issue is that when there is no plant, the vulnerability to soil erosion increases.
To address this, I prefer using cover cropping and mulching. For cover cropping, you can plant various types of rays, clover, bearly, oats, buckwheat, etc. You can also use bark, wooden chips, leaves, and other organic materials for mulching.
#2 Soil Compaction-related Problems
Heavily compacted soil is not suitable for the plants. The compacted soil does not allow water and air circulation, negatively impacting the health of the plant.
But we cannot avoid this happening as we use machines, walk between the plants or on empty soil beds, etc. Also, sometimes, the natural settling process is responsible for soil compaction.
Solution
To resolve the soil compaction problem, I propose two particular approaches.
No-till Farming
Well, you can apply this process if your garden is large. By using disc seeders and agricultural drills, you can embrace the no-till practices. This approach restricts walking through the soil bed, use of heavy machines, etc.
Organic Amendment
You can utilize the advantages of organic amendment to ensure that the soil does not receive a higher level of compaction. In the soil amending process, you can use manure, compost, and plant residues.
#3 Imbalanced Soil pH
The imbalanced pH rating of your garden soil obstructs the solubility of essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. If the garden soil’s pH level is not appropriate, the soil structure deteriorates while the microbial process gets reduced.
Solution
Soil pH is a critical factor, and different plants require different soil pH. So, you must consider the plant type that you are growing before fixing the pH level. Upon consulting the soil test result, if you find the pH is higher or lower than the required for your garden plants, apply the strategies listed below.
If the Soil pH is Higher
The best approach is to use organic matter like pine needles, peat moss, coffee grounds, oak leaves, etc., to decrease the pH level.
However, you can use aluminum sulfate or elemental sulfur also to decrease the pH. Here, you have to use 1.5-4 ibs of aluminium sulfate per plant.
If Soil pH is Less
For an eco-friendly approach, you can use agricultural lime, egg shells, marble dust, bone meals, dolomitic lime, calcitic lime, seaweed, wood ash, etc., to increase the soil pH. Also, using baking soda solution increases the soil pH level.
#4 Soil Nutrient Problem
The issue with soil nutrients is very common. This issue usually occurs due to continuous cropping and inadequate nutrition management.
The result is devastating: the soil loses fertility, and the plants’ health deteriorates.
Solution
There are various solutions available to solve this problem.
- First, you can do crop rotation to facilitate effective nutrient management.
- Second, organic matters like compost, manure, green manure, etc., can improve the nutrients of the soil.
- Third, you can use inorganic fertilizers that contain nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and micronutrients such as iron, manganese, zinc, and copper.
# 5 Soil Contamination
In my opinion, soil contamination is one of the most crucial problems as it not only makes the soil unfertile but also imposes health risks to humans. Moreover, the consumption of fruits, vegetables, etc., that grow on contaminated soil has a severe health impact.
The soil contamination occurs due to the inclusion of metal particulates in soil, higher amounts of inorganic fertilizer use, and use of water containing industrial waste elements.
Solution
The following are the most lucrative solutions to restrict soil contamination.
Fixing Contaminated Soil
If your garden soil is already contaminated, you can go for Phytoremediation. This soil contamination removal method includes techniques like phytoextraction, phytostabilization, and phytodegradation.
In its process, you use specific types of plants and microbes to reduce the contamination. I suggest you plant sunflowers, cowpeas, ferns, etc.
Prevention for Soil Contamination
You must understand that prevention is better than cure. At the very first point, you ensure that your family members do not dispose of household wastes in the garden. Second, before using any water source, check the pureness of the water.
Third, try your best to avoid using inorganic fertilizers. Inorganic fertilizers can provide better production but harm the soil in the long run.
# 6 Poor Drainage Capacity of Soil
Soil with poor drainage capability results in root damage, obstruction of air circulation for the in-soil parts, and waterlogging. These consequences result in degraded production and plant growth.
Solution
To address the poor drainage condition of the soil, you can incorporate the approaches below.
- Using well-rotted manure, compost, and peat moss can improve soil structure, boosting porosity and providing adequate soil drainage facilities.
- Installation of French or tile drain assists the garden soils in effectively draining out the excess water.
- Another effective approach to address the soil’s low drainage capacity is to create raised soil beds.
- Finally, if all the above approaches fail, I suggest you mix sand with the soil by consulting an expert.
# 7 Soil Salinity
There are two basic reasons for soil salinity: the use of salty irrigation water and improper fertilization. The soil salinity obstructs plant growth while hampering the water and nutrient intake of the plants.
The result is degraded yield and damage to plants.
Solution
The resolution approaches are listed below.
- You must use clean water for irrigation purposes. Also, you must facilitate proper water drainage measures to restrict soil salinity.
- Another suitable approach is using calcium sulfate that removes sodium ions from the soil, reducing the salinity level.
- However, if your garden soil is already bearing higher salinity levels and you are unable to resolve this at present, I suggest you go for salt-tolerant plants like daylily, blanket flowers, beets, kale, spinach, etc.
# 8 Loss of Organic Matters
Over time, your garden’s soil can lose the inhabited organic matter. This happens due to improper soil management, overcropping, climatic factors, low organic matter input, etc.
The loss of organic matter results in bad health of the plants while negatively impacting the yield.
Solution
The below solution you can apply.
- Implementing organic gardening techniques like crop rotation or composting can address the loss of organic matter issue.
- The use of organic fertilizer fixes this soil problem.
- If your garden is large, you can use agroforestry to restrict the loss of organic matter. Here, you grow garden plants along with the big trees.
# 9 Soil Crusting
Soil crusting occurs when the top layer of the soil forms a hard layer obstructing water and air penetration. This soil problem causes damage to the plants and reduces the yield significantly.
Solution
You can apply the strategies mentioned below to address this issue.
- Incorporating organic soil amending techniques eliminates the possibility of soil crusting.
- After observing soil crusting, you can rack the soil to break the hardness.
- Cover cropping is an effective approach to dealing with soil crusting when you leave the soil at rest.
# 10 Soil Structure Degradation
If you observe that the upper soil layer is consistently moist but the below soil layers are substantially dry, it indicates that your garden soil structure is destroyed.
Also, if the soil compaction level varies from one portion to another portion, you become sure that the soil structure is not standard. You must address this issue as it will negatively impact the plant growth and yield.
Solution
The following are the resolution approaches.
- Use organic compostes.
- You must strictly practice covering cropping and crop rotation.
- You can also use organic and inorganic soil amending techniques to improve the soil structure.
- After noticing the soil structure issue, you must avoid soil compaction at any cost.
- Finally, it is essential that you do proper irrigation.
Final Words
I hope that you now understand my holistic approach to soil think-up. By studying the mentioned common soil problems and best solutions, you will be able to make the blooms huge.
However, it is better to consistently check for the problem and incorporate appropriate addressing so the issues stay manageable.
