soil in bad shape.?

Question

How do I enrich our soil? It's a light brownish grey color, and it seems very dry and unhealthy. What can we put in our soil that will make it rich again? Thanks.

Answer 1

Compost. You can buy bags of it from Home Depot or Lowes or most local nurseries. Some bulk garden centers can deliver it to your house if you need lots of it.

You can work it into the soil if you have lots of extra energy or you can let the worms do it for you - just spread evenly and keep it moist for a week or so.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Grey is spooky as it often indicated poor drainage. First I'd to a perc(olation) test. Dig a hole, fill it with water. Let it drain...it should drain easily. Fill again and this second will determine the drainage after the initial saturation. If it takes hours or a day to drain, poor drainage. That would have to be addressed.

Otherwise, organic matter such as compost, old manure, peat moss are the standard ammendendments. Other supplementals are determined by a soil test available from you County Extension Agent. You may need to also add lime or sulfur and perhaps potassium and phosphorus as well as micronutrients. Only the chemical analysis can tell you what and how much.

Good start is organic matter. Usually about 2 inches over the soil, dug in about 6-7 inches will do as a started. Going overboard can result in too much salt in the soil.......manures are salty. Do this organic matter addition about 2-3 times a year and you should see results quickly.

Answer 3

Use compost! Spread it in a 1/2" layer, then water it. Several times. Then add topsoil, 1/2", water it several times. This will work. Make your own compost for next year, see the compost web sites on the web, or on 'Yahoo Answers". Its fun and easy, the whole family can get involved! As a Compost container, I use several plastic garbage cans, with holes drilled into the bottom. Use 3 cans, #1 is for new new stuff, then empty into can #2 after several months, then empty into can #3 after a few more months. Water and turn every few weeks. You won't believe the results! It is free, and what it does for your lawn is incredible!! Regards-Bob.

Answer 4

Your best bet is to have a soil test done. You can have it done through your county extension office and is not real expensive. I can't tell you exactly how much because it is different in different areas. The test will tell you exactly what your soil consists of (% of clay, sand, loam etc), what the PH is and what the nutrient values are and, even better, what you need to add, in exact amounts, to make the soil right. No guess work!

Answer 5

Add organic material of all kinds, compost. This can be grass clippings, shredded dried leaves, your kitchen scraps. You can bury kitchen scraps to compost in place, or you can start a mulch pile, mixing kitchen scraps with leaves, grass etc. You can buy compost, add bags of manure which is aged. All of this can take a while, it is not a fast process to enrich soil. You need organic material to hold moisture, and to add nutrients to the soil. Go to motherearth.com and look up enriching soil, composting etc.

Answer 6

So many people mow their lawn and throw away their lawn clippings, when in fact they come in very handy for mulch around trees and plants, plus it also comes in handy for changing soil conditions at no cost. All you have to do is wet it down and allow it to rot, then mix it into your soil and repeat the process at least 2 or 3 times. Cheers and good luck.

Answer 7

Probably your soil is building dumped dirt(CONSTRUCTION DIRT) and have cement and plaster mix to it .Dick a place about one feet depth if is same you should excavate soil and
replace it with reach soil .If is not as above buy garden dirt
brown package and mix all around of yard.

Answer 8

add compost anything you plant or existing plants will love you for it!!!