5 Simple Ingredients to Fix Poor Draining Soil

Ways to Increase drainage in heavy and poor draining soil
Soil needs to drain; when soil doesn’t drain there can be big problems in your garden, and can negatively impact the health of your plants. Some problems include runoff, which is when soil becomes compacted and water cannot penetrate the soil causing nutrients and precious topsoil to be washed away. The next problem that can occur is root suffocation. Roots need oxygen just like you and I do. When soil becomes compacted it removes the air from the soil. This eliminates the amount of life living in yous soil (remember bacteria, fungi, and beneficial insects also need to breathe), and will choke roots. Lastly, the soil can become baked. This happens when soil is compacted and dries out in the sun. It can heat up extremely hot since there is no moisture or air in the soil to act as an insulator to keep the soil at appropriate temperatures. The soil in your garden should be well draining, loose, fluffy, and not clumpy. However we cannot all have the perfect soil right away. So in this post I am going to give you 5 simple things you can add to your soil to increase drainage.

1. Perlite
Perlite is a volcanic rock that is puffed like popcorn to be very lightweight, and takes up a lot of space. It helps to loosen soil, and prevent soil from clumping. It also has the added benefit of being able to hold onto water which can help soil from baking, cracking, and helping with general soil fertility.

2. Sand
Sand is one of the cheapest things you can add to your garden soil that will help to break up the soil. The small particle     size of the sand will get in between soil clods and break them up, increase drainage, and help to aerate the soil for good root development.

3. Compost
Compost is an obvious, but often overlooked thing to fix soil. The problem with many hard, heavy, and compacted soils is that there is a lack of organic matter. When organic matter is found in soil, it acts as a sponge. It is one of the most effective at breaking up clumps and preventing compaction, it provides nutrients to the soil and to your plants, and it also holds onto water like a sponge much like perlite does to assist in keeping the soil conditions hospitable for life. Here is a video we did on how to make compost: How to make compost

4. Mulch
Mulching can do miracles for your soil. This method does take time to work, but it can be very effective if done right. Mulch holds onto water very well, breaks down and decomposes slowly, protects the soil from baking which is one of the reasons it gets hard in the first place, and it allows worms and other garden insects to feed on the slowly breaking down material. This softens soil, and in between two and four years you should have perfectly loose soil.

5. Vermiculite
Vermiculite is again another volcanic rock might like perlite. This glassy flat looking material is extremely absorbent, and when used with any combination of compost, perlite, or all three, it will break up even the hardest of soil and turn it into a usable soil that can grow plants better than you could have imagined.