The Perfect Soil for Growing Vegetables

Soil is one of the most important factors that you have to take into account when preparing crops, and is that a poor quality soil or that does not have the right characteristics for each crop can throw it overland. So, we must always achieve that the soil is the perfect for each type of crop, and in this case I would like to focus on vegetables, which are usually the products that are most grown in gardens and polytunnels.

Among the characteristics that the soil must have for vegetables are those that must be deep, have a crumbly structure, and be fluffy and fluffy, easy to work with, have good drainage, and have good capacity to retain mineral nutrients or be very rich in mineral nutrients. Let’s see the most important ones in detail.

Deep and fluffy soil

The deeper the soil, the more space the roots will have to spread, so that crops can grow more. Make sure that the depth is broad and that there are no stones, rocks or other elements at a certain depth that could hinder growth. It should also be a soft, migajoso and aerated soil, what you will get by contributing organic matter and, if you can, river sand.

Perfect for water

With respect to water, there are several things to consider. In the first place, it has to have a good capacity to retain it, something that clay soils do very well since they store it and do not have to water so much.

In contrast, sandy soils are very dry and do not retain water well. You have to find the balance between one and the other. A good drainage is also indispensable so that the water can flow as it should and that there is not too much time left to rot the roots.

Nutrients

As far as nutrients are concerned, there are also several things you should keep in mind, such as clay soils are the best ones to keep them. In other types of soils, especially in sandy soils, water can drag nitrogen, sulfur, potassium or iron, thus losing all their properties and soil is not nourished correctly. Provide manure, mulch, compost or peat to have more nutrients.

It is essential that you have mineral nutrients, specifically these 13: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulfur, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, boron, copper, chlorine and molybdenum.

The pH, very important

The pH of the soil has to be between 5.5 and 8, and if it was outside those values ​​you should correct it. Luckily, 80% of the soils have that pH, so you probably should not do anything to it, but you should check it to make sure it’s among those values.

If you want to read more articles similar to the perfect soil for growing vegetables, we recommend you to enter our category of Plant cultivation and care.