Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [soil-amendment]

About modifying a soil's content.

Soil amendments are any additives which are added to a soil to change its characteristics. Amendments can include (but are not limited to):

  • Fertilizers
  • Compost
  • Lime
  • Rock chips
  • Sand
  • Bark chips
  • Biochar
  • Vermiculite

Amendments can change the acidity (pH), water-holding ability, drainage, nutritional content, and inoculate against some diseases.

Use this tag for all questions where a general soil amendment tag is appropriate. Questions about specific amendments should use the specific tag for the amendment.

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Amending clay soil on a large scale

What would be the best way to amend clay soil on half an acre? We want to grow our usual garden plants like tomatoes, cucumbers and such but the soil on the land we just bought is small rocks and clay. Short of bringing in 4' of topsoil, is there…
NKY Homesteading
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How do I improve the soil around a plant after it has grown considerably?

We planted a whole bunch of plants and trees when we first moved in, without any consideration for the soil condition. Now that a year has passed, I see some plants are taking off really well and some have stunted growth. This has to do with the…
Lorem Ipsum
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how to fix soil with too little sand and clay?

I made a stupid mistake that has ruined my garden which I didn't realize until now. When moving in to my current house years ago, I tried to "improve" my garden soil by removing lots of soil and adding lots of free sewage sludge "compost" from my…
Jon
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Can biochar be created effectively in a cast iron bath?

I'm interested in making some biochar for my garden. I don't really want to pay an metal engineer to make an expensive Kon-Tiki Kiln, or even a much easier Pyramidal Kiln, and I don't have the energy to dig a 2 m diameter soil pit that are used…
Graham Chiu
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What is Horticultural Grit?

I live the U.S. but I read UK gardening books. Can someone please explain what is "Horticultural Grit". What is it make of, what is the size of the particles? Is there some standard reference that defines or specifies "Horticultural Grit"? If I…
Ed Morrow
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I want to lower the pH of my soil around my blueberries without changing the pH of the entire bed

I've got 3 Jersey blueberry shrubs planted in my greenhouse, in the ground. They are 3' wide and 2' tall, producing berries nicely. They'll be bigger in the years to come but this year I planted squash in the soil between them that are very…
stormy
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Crushed Ceramic As Soil Amendment?

I'm starting to brain storm some ideas for next year's spring garden projects early and have soil amendments on my brain. Been fighting heavy clay soil in Alberta for years and am gonna stop amending it and just pull it all out and start from…
AustinFoss
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Epsom salts to container potting mixture

Is adding Epsom salt to soil based container potting mixtures, non-harmful to grow vegetables with?
Christie Carman
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What happens when you grow your plants in essentially worm castings?

I've heard of people adding worm castings to their garden soil, but what happens if you're on the worm casting extreme, and plant directly into worm castings?
black thumb
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Is the calcium deposit in my kettle utilized?

Can plants utilize the calcium that sediments in the kettle when water is boiled? Should we be "feeding" it to them?
JudySh
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Is Perlite safe to use in the home or will it cause health issues?

I'm new to indoor farming and I was wondering: Is it safe to use Perlite in the soil or should I stick to more natural organic materials like pumice or gritty gravel?
techpuffin
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Does "adding iron to the soil" make sense?

Some people believe discarding iron items e.g. screws in the soil "make is rich in iron, for the good of the plants". This is in the context of the dark soil in northern Bulgaria. Safety concerns aside, is there any truth in this folk saying?
Vorac
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Improve soil in established flower garden

The soil in my garden is very hard; it's probably clay if I do just a little deep. However, I already have some plants established in my garden and I don't want to dig them up. It's a small area, about 20 20 feet. Is there a way to make the soil…
Nellie
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Is yellow pumice/perlite a problem or indicator of bad quality?

The pumice is not in a pot, but still in the packaging, and I haven't put any water on it. Is this yellow pumice a problem or sign that the pumice is cheap/bad quality? I am not sure as a lava rock is supposed to have quality? And does the same…
4-K
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