Soil condition is the silent half of the dirt equation. As a general rule if your soil is dark and crumbly it is good soil. The other general rule is that a good portion of us don’t have the luxury of good soil. In these cases you will need to condition or amend your soil.

The first step in this process is to discover what condition your current soil is in. There are two simple methods to determine this the first is by following the soil texture by feel flowchart or by using the soil composition triangle which is made simple with this USDA provided Soil Texture Calculator. Once you’ve got a name for your soil find it on the composition triangle. If you are in one of the corners your soil isn’t in the ideal condition.

Now that you know where you’re at in the triangle you need to get your soil as close to loam as you can. For instance If you are currently working with “sandy clay” you will want to go in the direction of the silt corner to do this you need to add silt. What is silt? Silt is very fine organic and non-organic matter. In fact, when you buy a bag of black dirt at your local garden center and you mix it with some peat moss or, preferably, with composted cotton burr (go with the ‘Back To Earth Composted Cotton Burr’ or ‘Back To Nature Cotton Burr Compost’ brands unless you can find certified organic brands) you will have an excellent silt replacement.

If you are way up in the clay corner it isn’t an easy path to loam. Basically, you’ve a couple of options neither of which are great: 1) Move to a location with better soil or 2) Mix in gypsum, sand and composted cotton burr, level the area and build raised beds on the spot. You should be able to move the raised beds and plant in the area in 3-5 years.

Don’t worry if you can’t get your soil in the middle of loam, it takes mother nature centuries to build good topsoil and I have grown corn, beans and pumpkins in clay that the year before had been 15′ below the surface. After you have conditioned your garden continue to maintain that condition. Use composted leaf litter and grass clippings (or composted cotton burr if you don’t have access to these) to mulch your garden throughout the growing season and turn that mulch in at the end of the season. This practice also helps maintain soil nutrients which lends itself to healthy, disease-free plants.