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The four main soil types – sandy soil, clay soil, loam soil or silt soil can suit best for your lawn. However, our lawn needs a lot of care when it comes to improving and maintaining its beauty and pleasing effect on the people passing by or on your visitors.
That is why we need to do maintenance such as nourishing the soil, mowing the grass, fertilizing the lawn, and many more. But there is still one more to consider in improving and maintaining your lawn – the soil.
Soil is the key to healthy, lush greenery grass on your lawn. Quality soil can provide you with satisfying results on your lawn. That is why you need to consider choosing the best lawn soil available in the market.
The Four Main Types of Soil
Four main soil types can suit best for your lawn. Each has its characteristics that are capable of bringing out healthy green grass and plants.
1. Sandy Soil
Wet grass can spread diseases to the greens, especially when you mow them. Although there are best ways to mow wet grass, it is best to maintain your lawn when the grass and ground are dry. Sandy soil can significantly help you with that.
The sandy soil comprises the largest particles that create enough spaces and pores for essential nutrients and water to move deep into the ground much faster. This will make the water drain quicker.
However, sandy soil tends to be nutrient deficient and can make the lawn go dry. To aid that, you need to fertilize and water your lawn more often. Make these two things part of your maintenance.
In general, sandy soil is a suitable soil type since the roots thrive well here. They get nutrients and air for the plants and grass to grow healthy because of the large pores that this soil type makes.
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2. Clay Soil
The clay type soil is like the opposite of the sand; it consists of the finest particles, packed close together. It will not create spacious pores for the water to drain fast. Thus, this soil is deficient in drainage. It dries much slower, especially when the sun is not up.
Since clay soil is made of tiny particles, they quickly react to foot traffic. They mash together, making it compact. There will be no room for the root to breathe air, drink water, and get nutrients since the voids are reduced.
However, the great advantage of this soil is they hold water very well. This will make the nutrients not to runoff quicker. With that, owners with clay soil in the lawn tend to fertilize and water their lawn less often.
3. Silt Soil
The silt soil is like on the middle ground between sand and clay soils. The particle consistency in this soil type is not that large compared to sand and not that small compared to clay. Some countries also regard this soil as muck soil.
Silt soil brings a significant advantage to the lawn. It has excellent water drainage and moisture retention properties. It also holds the nutrients very well and is naturally bountiful of soil nutrients too. Homeowners do not need to fertilize their lawns regularly.
4. Loam Soil
Loam soil is the combination of the three soil types mentioned above. It likely consists of 40% sand, 20% silt, and 40% clay properties. Thus it is excellent soil for your lawn. Although, you may need some soil amendments to achieve this optimal ratio.
It has a lot of advantages as well. It promotes proper water drainage, moisture retention, and nutrient retention. Since this soil type is less compacted than the previously mentioned soils, it allows natural root growth, aeration, and tillage more.
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Things to Consider for Best Soils
1. pH Level
The acidity and basicity of the soil are perhaps one of the most vital things to consider. The pH range in which most plants will thrive is from 5.5 to 7.5, while grass can live 6.5 to 7. But this also depends on the plant or grass, such as strawberries and blueberries, which can optimally live lower than 5.5. Other grass can also go lower than 6.5.
2. Nutrient Level
Plants and grass need various nutrients to grow and stay healthy. Nitrogen is an essential one, but they also need phosphorus, potassium, and calcium. All of these nutrients can be added to your soils through fertilizers. Although, you might also consider the soil packed with nutrients beforehand. One example is the loam soil.
3. Depth of Topsoil
The depth of the topsoil is most likely getting overlooked by a lot of homeowners. They may not be aware that this is one of the crucial factors in having a healthy lawn. The active topsoil optimally requires a depth of four to six inches. This will give the grass on your lawn a deeper rooting zone.
Read Also: Importance of Soil and How it affects Crop Production
Final Thoughts
This guide for the best soils will help you choose the best one that will suit your lawn. This might be a challenging task for a homeowner, but it will all be worth it when you see how beautiful your lawn is afterward.
