“Enrichment beyond the classroom”
Pupils make excellent progress, especially in their communication, reading, writing and number work.
SOIL BASED ACTIVITIES
When starting to grow anywhere, it is vital to know what sort of soil you are working with. To understand how it is constructed, if you have elements like stones or old building materials, how it will hold water and other elements that can save you time further down the line
Know your soil - DIFFERENT TYPES
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A little basic information about the texture of your soil can help you determine how well the soil absorbs water and if it needs some help by way of compost, mulch and manure.
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Clay Soil
Clay soil has the smallest particle size at less than 0.002mm!!
These particles stick together and attract water to form large sticky lumps which are heavy to work with. These soils drain slowly but are rich in plant nutrients.
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Sandy Soil
Sandy soil has a particle size ranging between 0.05 and 2mm
Sandy Soil particles do not stick together meaning that sandy soils are free draining. Because of this, sandy soils are low in plant nutrients and need additional organic matter added to them to ensure that good levels and soil structure are maintained.
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Sandy soil can feel lighter in weight, be gritty to touch and be lighter in colour. Sand is made up of surprisingly large particles. This allows lots of movement and creates large gaps. Water and air can get through sandy soil easily. This makes sandy soil good for draining water, but bad for holding nutrients.
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Loamy Soil
Loamy soil is a mixture of sandy and clay soils and has the benefits of both making it easy to cultivate. This is usually dark in colour and a mix of sand and clay. This soil type can still be compacted (too firmly packed together) if it’s trodden on too much. But this type of soil usually has a good level of organic matter and nutrients within it. It can retain enough water to keep most plants satisfied.
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Chalky Soil
Chalky soil can be different textures but are often shallow, stony and free-draining. The squeeze test on its own may not let you know for certain but if your soil looks a pale colour and has obvious white chunks, it could be chalky. Another way to tell if you have chalky soil is to do a pH test (see SOIL PH Test Activity). Chalky soil is alkaline, with a pH level typically of 7 or more.
How to Improve your Soil
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If you want to improve the structure of clay soil, you could add horticultural sand to it. Adding compost, or giving a mulch*, will also help a bit with structure and nutrients.
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To improve the nutrient content of your sandy soil, you could add manure, leaf mould or compost. Late winter or early spring is a good time to do this
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To reduce the alkaline in your chalky soil, it is best to add plenty of organic matter, like compost or leaf mould, and choose suitable plants.
Top Tip: Healthy soil helps your plants grow strong and produce more flowers, vegetables and fruit.
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*Mulch is a layer of material that is spread over the surface of the soil to suppress weeds, conserve moisture and warm the soil. Materials include compost, leaf mould, straw or bark chippings
Basic Soil test
Mason jar texture test:
 Fill a straight sided jar 1/3 with soil
 Add water until almost full
 Add 1 tsp dishwasher soap or water softener
 Shake and let settle
 Mark sand depth at 1 min.
 Mark silt depth after 6 hours (or by color/texture change with clay at 24 hr)
 Calculate clay by difference (or measure at 24 hours)
