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Soil Facts

What you need to know about the soil on your plot.

The soil on your allotment is of vital importance and will have a big influence on how well your crops do. Therefore its important to get to know your soil and understand how you can improve and maintain it.

There are many factors that can influence how good your soil is and what measures you need to take to improve it.. The texture of your soil will dictate how many nutrients it holds and how well it drains. Although plants require differing levels of pH, if the levels are too extreme the micro organisms that help to feed the plants won't survive.

 

Soil Texture

So what sort of soil do you have? The best way to find out is to wait until the soil isn't too wet or too dry, then take a handful and squeeze it. If it forms a lump, readily sticks together and goes shiny when rubbed then it's  clay. If it sticks together but when rubbed disintegrates then you have silt. If the soil doesn't stick together and full's apart then it is sandy. If the soil crumbles 

 

Type

Appearance

Squeezed when dry

Squeezed when wet
Sand Has a grainy appearance where the individual grains can be seen. It flows through your fingers when in a dry. Will not form a cast and will fall apart when pressure is released. Forms a cast which will crumble when lightly touched.
Sandy Loam Essentially a granular soil with sufficient silt and clay to make it somewhat coherent. Sand characteristics predominate. Forms a cast which readily falls apart when lightly touched. Forms a cast which will bear careful handling without breaking.
Loam A uniform mixture of sand, silt and clay. Grading of sand fraction quite uniform from coarse to fine. It is mellow, has somewhat gritty feel, yet is fairly smooth and slightly plastic. Forms a cast which will bear careful handling without breaking. Forms a cast which can be handled freely without breaking.
Silt Loam Contains a moderate amount of the finer grades of sand and only a small amount of clay. Over half of the particles are silt. When dry it may appear quite cloddy which readily can be broken and pulverized to a powder. Forms a cast which can be freely handled. Pulverized it has a soft flourlike feel. Forms a cast which can be freely handled. When wet, soil runs together and puddles.
Silt Contains over 80% of silt particles with very little fine sand and clay. When dry, it may be cloddy, readily pulverizes to powder with a soft flourlike feel. Forms a cast which can be handled without breaking. Forms a cast which can freely be handled. When wet, it readily puddles.
Clay Loam Fine textured soil breaks into very hard lumps when dry. Contains more clay than silt loam. Resembles clay in a dry condition; identification is made on physical behavior of moist soil. Forms a cast which can be handled without breaking. Forms a cast which can be handled freely without breaking. It can be worked into a dense mass.
Clay Fine textured soil breaks into very hard lumps when dry. Difficult to pulverize into a soft flourlike powder when dry. Identification based on cohesive properties of the moist soil. Forms a cast which can be handled without breaking. Forms a cast which can be handledwithout breaking.
Organic Soils Identification based on the high organic content. Muck consists of thoroughly decomposed organic material with considerable amount of mineral soil finely divided with some fibrous remains. When considerable fibrous material is present, it may be classified as peat. The plant remains or sometimes the woody structure can easily be recognized. Soil color ranges from brown to black. They occur in lowlands, in swamps or swales. They have high shrinkage upon drying.

  

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