Soil Types
A very important bit!

How do I know which sort of soil I have?

The easiest way is to take some in your fingers wet it thoroughly and rub it between your fingers. Bear in mind though that all soils are mixtures of many different elements and even the most extreme of any types will often have small amounts of the other elements in.

If it "polishes" i.e. makes a shiny smooth coating on your fingers and is greyish brown in color it's probably clay.

If it's very smooth, but not quite polished and is a dark tan color, it's probably silt.

If it's very gritty and a pale brownish color it's probably sandy.

If it's crumbly and dark, but not especially gritty or smooth and shiny, you've got peaty or loamy soil.

As described below, chalky soils can be like many others, the presence of chalk or limestone is what defines the soil type - if you've got it, you won't miss seeing it.

Clay Soil

On the down side, the soil is always heavy to work, is slow to warm up in spring, and can be waterlogged. Plants planted into clays generally take longer to establish than on other soils, and growth can be fairly slow at first.

On the up side however, once the plants are established, the soil begins to yield its benefits. Clay soils characteristic of being slow to dry out, of being able to "lift" water from the water table by capillarity mean that plants frequently survive drought periods well even if they are not watered through them. Clay soils are also usually very rich in nutrients. This means that plants that survive the first couple of years on clay tend to grow and survive very well with little intervention.

Chalk Soil

Chalk soils are identified not so much by the soil itself as the inclusion of large quantities of pieces of chalk or limestone (calcium carbonate) which makes the soil very alkaline. You probably won't be able to dig down very far in them before you come to a layer of more rocks than soil.

Chalky soils can be light or heavy in the same way as other soils, they can be well drained or have poor drainage (usually though they are rather too well drained), be water retentive and nutrient rich or thin and starved of nutrients (starved of nutrients is the norm). Their over-riding characteristic is their alkalinity meaning that you can't grow acid lovers.

Organic matter tends to decompose quickly in alkaline soils and so needs replacing regularly, annually or more. Without regular additions of extra organic matter, chalky soils rapidly turn to mud in winter and rock-hard in summer.

The Problem;

"Despite what I think my soil should be like and what I see on gardening programs on the TV, my soil doesn't appear to be so wonderful and I'm not sure that the plants like it very much either."

The Solution?; Replace it with quality topsoil? A possibility, but consider the logistics. Any topsoil delivered is going to cost you, not that much money maybe but it depends how much you want, probably in the $100's for a reasonable amount. So far so good. Unless you are going to use it to raise the height of the garden in some way (using raised beds), you will need to remove some existing soil to make room for it. This means that for 1 ton in, 1 ton needs to come out. What is coming out is by definition going to be awful to work (otherwise you wouldn't be getting rid of it), and needs to be disposed of - Lots of cost, lots of effort.

The Alternative;

Stick with what you have got (no pun intended) and add whatever it's missing to improve its texture and other qualities.

Type	Advantages	Disadvantages	To Improve
Clay	Usually very fertile, lots of nutrients.	Poor drainage, heavy to work. Rock hard when dry, horribly sticky when wet.	Add organic matter and maybe gravel.
Sandy	Easy to work and easily improved.	Free draining - too much so, dries out quickly and relatively infertile.	Add organic matter and use fertilizers.
Chalk	Good drainage (usually), while being moisture retentive. Moderate fertility.	Shallow and stony. Forget about Rhododendrons, Camellias and other lime haters except in containers or raised beds.	Add organic matter.
Silt	Fairly moisture retentive, workable when wet.	Compacts easily, can be incredibly hard when dry.	Add organic matter
Peaty	Loads of organic matter. The acid lovers that other gardeners struggle with should do well.	Wet and acidic	May need drainage. Add concentrated fertilizer and possibly lime
Lovely Loam	Easy to work, good drainage, good fertility, plants love it.	Only exists in fairy stories. Keep quite if you've got this or I'll be round to pinch it.	Re-cycle garden compost so you're not taking from it and use fertilizers for hungry or very productive plants.

O.K. so now you know. Go to Improving the soil to find out what to do next.

Soil Types A very important bit!

Soil Types
A very important bit!