Let's Talk Loamy Soil
Immediately after shaking soil, water and dish soap
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I have the final thumbs-up from Mr. Golden D to get a second, and larger, greenhouse this coming year and with that happening, I am also taking better care of how I garden. From organizing my seedlings and planning out the herb garden to making sure I have the best soil needed all throughout my garden. I am limited on space for an actual garden, so I have to rely on making the best of the little area and using it my fullest advantage.
The first thing I did was research crop and gardening bed rotations weeks ago. And my newest research efforts brought me to learning about loamy soil.
Yes... loamy soil. Now I am sure most avid gardeners and homesteaders know about loamy soil and know how to test for it and how to make the soil better. But me... not so much. If you had asked me a year ago what loamy soil was, I would have stared at you with a blank look.
So let's talk loamy soil.
What Is Loamy Soil?
The basic definition can be found on the Spruce website
What is Loam?
The technical definition: Loam is soil that contains:
less than 52% sand,
28 - 50 % silt, and
7 - 27% clay
In all the research I have read the last few weeks, this is how the loamy soil percentages work.
- Perfect Oil Loam- 20% clay, 40% Silt, 40% sand
- Silt Clay Loam- 30% clay, 60% silt, 10% sand
- Sandy Loam- 15% clay, 20% silt, 65% sand
- Silt Loam- 15% clay, 65% silt, 20% sand
For more information about what to do with you soil results, see the Gardening Know How website.
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How To Easily Test Sample Your Soil At Home
Tools needed:
- One clean mason or glass jar with screw-on seal-able lid
- Soil from selected location(s)
- One teaspoon dish soap (to keep the soil from clumping together while it sits for the 24 hours)
- Ruler
- Water
Dig about six inches into selected area of garden and scoop about 1/2-3/4 cup of soil into a glass jar.
Add enough water to fill the jar about three-quarters full; leaving enough room in the jar for shaking and settling. Add one teaspoon of liquid dish soap. Screw lid on and shake the jar for about two minutes. Let it sit for about 24 hours. If you suspect your soil contains heavy clay, the jar should sit for 48 hours.
NOTE I do not suspect high amounts of clay, so I let mine sit for 24 hours.
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My Soil Results
Four hours after vigorous shaking
25 hours after shaking
While it's really hard to see in the picture above, I have the percentages figured out as follows:
15% - clay (should be 20%)
35% - Silt (should be 40%)
50% - Sand (should be 40%)
So I need to raise up the clay and lower down the silt and sand. I also noticed a lot of debris in the upper half of the jar/water. This is called peaty soil and could mean my soil doesn't have enough nutrients, but according to the USDA chart, I am within the loam criteria.
![diy-soil-jar-test-7.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmT8gyd2eMf4PbUtYcFo1vybzwmMxudkUkzjrW8MW4LYL3/diy-soil-jar-test-7.jpg)
So aside from adding some basic organic nutrients, I believe my garden area is ready to go! I'd say that's good news!
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You can have some of my clay! I have 100% clay soil! (not quite) but ... it's clay enough that If I ever give up gardening I could make pottery instead.
Great post and very useful guide! How exciting about your greenhouse!!!
i was just about to say the same thing, about giving some clay away! :) LOL
I second on the pottery statement!
lol- No, no.. you can keep the clay.
My husband used to live in central Gerogia and it was ALL clay there.I can only imagine the extra soil and nutrients needed every gardening season to make the garden flourish.
This clay soil is a first for me, I've learned a lot of new gardening tricks as a result (the big thing being patience). We just keep adding compost and manure, eventually it should get loamier.
Now you just taught me something pretty cool. I use a PH test but will have to give this a try
I knew about the pH testing and have done that years and years ago but this was a new one for me and I had to try it to see the results.
My recommendation is to add horse manure the cure all soil fixxer. Most people never think to test their soul. Almost cool crop planting season. Good luck
NO horses near me here. Times like this I wish we still had our chickens and the coop. They made the best manure and the soil was SOOOO rich.
Great post, really nice to have the chart to refer to. Are you near the coast at all? Seaweed makes a great soil additive and helps retain moisture.
Knowing the ins and outs of your soil is such an important aspect of growing.
Yes I have been learning so much about soil, companion planting and more
Looks like you will have a great garden this year @goldendawne.
Me too. I have expanded a lot (mainly in my mind) this year. Either we won't have a lawn or I'll be investing in LOTS of -gallon buckets.
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😆 ...picturing your yard full of buckets...
yay for science! i should probably do this with some of the planters that i've mixed up by hand. thank you for the reminder that slowing down & focusing on preparation is important to the success of the garden!
I have tow more areas to soil sample from but this one was from the main garden area. I'm curious to see if there's a big difference or not. I'm hoping not.
fingers crossed for you!
I have done these tests for years...I still have 5 or 6 jars sitting around...I think its time to dump them out!
Looking forward to see the gardens as they grow this year!
lol- yes! You should probably dump the old ones. This was the first time I did a soil test and I really learned a lot from my reading about it.
I did that experiment and mine came up really sandy, which is no surprise. I will be doing it again here in a day or two, if I get to feeling better, change of season has got me down right now. I am hoping after all the amendments to the soil I did it will come out better.
I guess I should be more than thrilled with good soil test results.
Hope you feel better soon!
Thank You! A good soil test is a reason to jump for joy in my book! It means lots of good vegtables this year.
I remember reading about loamy soil back when I was a school kid and memories came rushing in where you defined loam in the post. It is a well formulated article and very informative. Good to hear about the readiness of your garden!
Now that you say it, yeah... takes me back to junior and senior high school science class. I had forgotten that!
I've not come across this before! I wish my soil wasn't sitting under 5" of snow right now. I want to try this test! This is really interesting. I know they call this soil lakebottom silt because Lake Hitchcock covered this whole area 10,000 years ago. I know there's a permeable clay layer 4' down. I know the topsoil used to be 4' deep and is now around 2' or less. But I've never done a test like this one.
Snow has disappeared here luckily! Been warming up more and more every day here.
I wish you luck with your soil testing... sounds like you may have some issues. That's a lot of clay.
Not 4' of clay, just a permeable layer 4' down. LOL
lol- see what happens when I read off my cell phone and am NOT wearing glasses- got that comment ALL mixed up!