Many gardeners ask me what the most important element of gardening is. My answer is always the same: 90 per cent of the success that you achieve in the garden is the result of proper soil preparation. Like building a house with a firm foundation, good soil will feed and nourish roots. The healthier plant roots, the better the performance above the soil. It is as simple as that!
How should you prepare your soil? First of all determine what kind of soil you have. Dig a hole the depth of a spade or shovel and determine if you have sandy soil, loamy or clay based soil. If you are unsure either take a sample into a local retailer or do the water test by placing a cross section of the soil in a large clear jar with clean water. Shake it extremely well and then let it sit for about 24 hours. As the soil settles you will see 'strata' of different soil.
Then use the soil triangle to estimate the composition of your soil, taking an approximate percentage of the sand, silt, and clay in your mason jar, finding these percentages on the triangle, following the lines, and determining where they meet. The above drawing works out to be a sandy clay loam according to the triangle.
For more information on this test, here is a good article.
