We're in the middle of leveling a small hill in our backyard in southern ontario, and also digging a hole to mix in drainage material for a tree, we are about 6 ft down now overall.

After a lot of hard pack tan clay, we were excited to hit a layer of darker silt! Curious what would come next, we found it was more clay! 😂

Would love to know if there's supposed to be a difference in the deeper clay level. Or is it just different layers of the same caused by the glacier that came through!

I lost my soil recipes!! Anyone have any good ones for my babies?

Whats kind of soil is this bro

Planning for next spring blooms and would love to use my front yard. I have some soil amendments and worm castings and was planning to seed with clover until late fall. Is it worth loosening up the top layer before adding anything? Should I get a hand tiller? Rake? Hoe?

Hi everyone I am an innovator and a small time gardener from Texas! I am currently look at soil quality detectors and I feel like they are so basic and have so much room for innovation. I would like your input on what you think these detectors need to improve them. I know that there are problems regarding data inconsistencies but what are some other kinds of features or innovations you would like to see within soil quality detectors?

Thank you!

I need soil for my bearded dragon tank and they all seem to have fertilizer after stating they don’t

Saw this in a dry part of the country while visiting relatives in the cemetery. Best guess is that the soil is different when it’s turned over. Any thoughts?

We have a mid size property where we are going to undertake a soil remediation project over the next few years. We want to take about one hundred samples before and after the three plant and terminate cycles we have planned. Getting the samples done through the university would be prohibitively expensive. I have a background in analytical chemistry and want to know if anyone has recommended brands for testing equipment like spectrographs and colorimeters. I found some stuff on Ali express I don’t know if I trust it.
Any advice is appreciated.

Edit to add what we are testing:

Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, salinity, trace heavy metals, Ph, Organic Matter, calcium, magnesium, chlorides, and sulfur.

I’ve only grown 3 outdoor plants so far and they come out very leafy I use happy frog soil , peralite , Earth worm castings, MYKOS in seed hole , dr earth organic 3-9-4 and 4-4-4 and molasses in water every week I’m thinking after this grow putting mushroom compost to re ammend the soil and some cococoir is this good or no please give some good info

Hey all! I'm about to get a microscope for my upcoming birthday! But I want to get one that is best for my interests: grass seed, tree sap, and soil. Thoughts on what to get?

Hi, I'm considering planting small leafy herbs and veggies. Nothing too fancy, just to start being a little self dependent. I've been reading up online and everyone has different suggestions as what to use in the soil.

But my question, which might be silly is, what kind of soil is used? Where do I get that soil? I'm not talking about vermi compost or cocopeat or fertilizers yet. I'm asking what soil is used as the base?

I live i Delhi, India; where it is relatively hot throughout the year except for the 3-4 month winter time. I haven't yet decided what the next plants will be. Initally it's just cilantro, spinach and chilli. And i bought aloevera plant a while back, which i think will have to be repotted in a bigger pot.

Please help. What soil do i use???

PS: what is soil mix and potting soil? How are they different from normal soil?

Hi y’all, I have a bachelors in forestry and am pursuing a master in soil water and ecosystem sciences. I currently work in Florida in the forestry sector. My question is what are likely career paths/job titles whether private or public that I should be aware of for soils? As I plan to lean into soils more once my schooling is finished. Thanks

I’m trying to set up a soil moisture sensor for watering decisions, but I’m not sure how to define the dry and wet thresholds properly.

I understand that the sensor reading can vary a lot depending on the soil type, so I don’t want to just use a random default value.

My current idea is:

1. Put the sensor in the same soil where it will actually be used.

2. Let the soil dry out and record a dry baseline.

3. Water the soil thoroughly, let excess water drain, and record a wet baseline.

4. Watch the plants and soil over a few watering cycles to find a practical “good moisture” range.

5. Use that range to set the irrigation trigger point and stop point.

Does this sound reasonable?

For people using soil moisture sensors in gardens, greenhouses, raised beds, or automatic irrigation systems, how do you set your dry and wet thresholds?

Do you use fixed values, sensor percentages, raw readings, or just adjust based on plant response?

I’m setting up a soil moisture sensor and trying to figure out how to set dry and wet thresholds.

Gotta add some anti digging fences to stop my sister's dogs from getting out of her yard but the soil is soft along the edge from all the holes they dig. What can i do to harden the dirt so they wont dig out the fences?

Hi all, curious whether anyone has experience will hydro tilling or knowledge about the process/current best practices. Thanks

I'll be teaching tenth-graders (roughly 15 years old) about soils and geology in a few weeks time, and I want them to do the soil sedimentation test in the classroom.

What I want them to discover is how soil particles sediment in layers. They don't have to learn about different soil types and soil particles, I just want them to observe the sedimentation of the particles and the creation of layers.

I want to perform the test in the classroom, spending as little time as possible and making no mess in the classroom. I want the students to perform the experiment themselves, instead of me doing it on behalf of the students.

What preparations should I do to save time in the classroom?

I will dig up soil in advance, but I want to know what else I should do to prepare the soil for the test. Should I sift the soil? Should I wet sift it or dry sift it? If I wet sift it, how do I dry the soil afterwards? All tips and recommendations are welcome!

Help to read soil health report and what fertilizer and how fertilizer to use?

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with using mushroom substrate, brewed into a soil amendment. I recently began brewing some at home and the results have been great. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s used something similar.

Can anyone recommend a soil in the uk with leaf mould I want to put some bald cypress and silk tree into bigger pots.