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What kind of soil is this (with pictures)?

I'm relatively new to gardening, and my current project is re-designing an area of soil on my porch with a variety of shrubs and flowers.  I'm trying to determine what type of soil I have in my garden (very few earthworms in it, and grew very little ... so trying to figure out what's wrong with it):

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 I'm also not sure whether the soil is acidic or alkaline (or neutral) as I haven't yet purchased a PH tester.  But I was hoping that some of the more experienced gardeners among you may like to guess. 

I'm wanting to add some perlite, compost and coir to make the soil richer and more plant-friendly.

Thank you for helping me out!

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    Can you tell us a bit more about the construction of that bed please?  

    Does it have drainage at the base?  

    If not, that might be the problem with the soil - lack of drainage would make the soil sour and anaerobic and worms wouldn't be able to live there.

     


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • As above. Is that imported topsoil? I suspect that it's in need of some organic matter to provide aeration, nutrients etc. It looks like the sort of topsoil that comes from a supplier rather than garden soil moved in from nearby, am I right?  No problem, though. I would add some very well rotted strawy horse manure compost, or well composted leaves, something to lift the organic content and allow it to develop the sort of structure that is natural, include the worms. They'll come. 

  • Well there are 3 different levels to the garden, and this is on the upper level, next to a set of concrete stairs.  I'm not sure how much drainage there is, but there seems to be some yellow sand in amongst the other sand.

    How can I increase the drainage of the soil?  Obviously it's not like a pot or container that you can drill holes in.  (I'm not sure where the previous owners got the soil from as well).

    The rest of the backyard is very boggy, and the weather here is quite hot (Western Australia), so I hope this helps!

    Thank you for your responses! image

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    My family in Perth WA had very sandy soil,  i would do as Hortum says, if you can get it, it will be the best thing you can do. Its probably always dry, so if you can spare the water, give your plants a good soak when you can.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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