Many gardens do not have great soil conditions.   In order for a wide variety of plants to thrive in, good soil condition can be a vital necessity to have.  We can however improve the soils condition.

Improving the condition of soil consists of 2 main intentions

1. Improving the structure of the soil so that improvements are made towards retaining moisture and gaining oxygen content.
2. Improving the level of nutritional value to the soil so that the plants can successfully feed of the vital nutrients they require for them to be vigorous and healthy.  Once the structure of the soil is improved then oxygen will enter the soil, which is an essential requirement for plant roots.

Clay Soils

Clay soils tend to be very dense in texture and therefore oxygen levels will be extremely low.  Because of this density in texture, the soil has very little drainage quality and the result is lack of oxygen.  If the root systems do not have access to oxygen the plants will die.

Sandy Soils

Sandy soils are quite the opposite from clay soils in texture.  They have large air particles in them and will need watering much more often.  Sandy soils have sufficient levels of oxygen in them.

Improving the structure of your soil

This can be achieved by adding and mixing in organic matter into the soil.  Organic matter consists of well decomposed manure or by purchasing a variety of products from garden centres.  You can however make your own compost which is cost efficient although a little more time consuming.   Other methods are to have barkmulch chippings which are again organic matter that is spread over the surface of the shrub beds and also have the benefit of suppressing weeds.
Once the compost or manure has been dug into the soil, the organic matter helps the water retention properties of the soil and acts like a sponge drawing water into without causing the soil to be waterlogged.
In addition to enabling water retaining properties, the organic matter binds to the clay particles and creates larger particles.  This creates an advantage to the soil as creating large particles means that more oxygen is created due to the large air pockets and in return offers the plants roots beneficial circumstances from the improved soil aeration.
When organic matter is used as a mulch, worms will aid aeration as they will pull down the organic matter down into the soil and help improve yet again the soils structure and aeration.
Digging the soil also enables more aeration as any compaction is lessened and oxygen will increase as a result.  This added aeration will again give advantages to the root systems of the plants and be able to penetrate the soil much easier.
Improving the nutritional content of the soil  

Just like us, plants are dependant on food and water and will die with insufficient amounts and inadequate level of nutrition.  They will suffer with growth, weaken and become affected by disease much easier, also more prone to environmental stresses.

The organic matter will also benefit the soil when it is broken down slowly by soil bacteria.  This breaking down process will deliver nutrients into the soil which will be available to the plant.  It is important to understand that this process alone will not provide the sufficient level of nutrients we would like the soil to have.

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