Good quality soil not only ensures a good beginning for your plants but also ensures a lifetime of healthy backyard gardens and lawns.

Types of soil:

Different types of plants require different types of soil. You may wish to cultivate a garden or plant a lawn depending upon the type of soil already available in your yard or you may go in and improve or change your original soil to accommodate the plants you wish to plant. The latter method is very difficult and time consuming and may require considerable efforts on your part. The first step in cultivating any garden is to check the quality of the soil. Mostly holes are dug up in various parts of the yard to get a general picture of the soil as different areas in the same yard may have different qualities of soil texture. Soil quality ranges from clay, rocky or can even be sandy if you stay near a beach. Each soil type can be ideal for some plants and ineffective for others. Requirements of plants should be known before planting them in the available soil. Other things to check are the Ph content, natural drainage system of the soil and the presence or absence of any large boulders. Once you know all the details, you can go ahead and improve or adjust the soil according to your requirements.

Improving soil quality:

The best way to improve any soil quality is to go the organic way. Organic or compost fertilizers are beneficial in improving the texture and fertility of your backyard in a natural way. Compost can be purchased or can be made at home, if you have enough organic waste at your disposal. It can be added to the ground or around the plants. Vermicompost can also be used to regenerate the soil with the help of worms. Weeding the soil can help significantly as it helps your plants get oxygen and other important nutrients necessary for their growth. Simple everyday gardening practices like raking, shoveling have also proved effective in improving soil quality. Frequent use of chemical fertilizers should be avoided at all cost, as they can lead to soil infertility on repeated exposure.

Soil also needs to be monitored regularly to maintain or improve its quality.