Why Your Soil Zone Matters!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Out of curiosity what soil zone are you in? Or what colour is your soil? Dark, light? ALSO! I have a GIVEAWAY 🚨 going till tomorrow over on instagram. If you are in Saskatchewan/going to gardenscape. I have tickets 🎫

[@gendoll5006]

Red clay soil in NC, USA and I don’t know what to do with it 😫 I wrote a long comment explaining if you happen to have time to read it! Love your videos thank you so much! 😽

[@cangel201]

Gray, super gray

[@ZeFeratu]

Still watching, but I did look up Michigan's soil zone and found below, but I have no idea what that means... S3: Spodosols and Alfisols on sandy and loamy uplands: Haplorthods and Glossudalfs Ok, I just finished watching your video. Thank you for the wealth of information as always! The soil profile on my property is different depending on where I collect the soil from. I've lived here for less than a year so I cannot attest to any amendments that were put on the property in different areas. It's a property that includes mixed wooded area, and there are several species of moss groeing, which I believe contributes to the richer soil in some areas due to the water + temperature buffer it provides. Near a heavily decayed pile of hard/soft wood (lots of moss, and the pile is IN the woods of our property: BLACK The main garden: BLACK (I assume this was amended before we moved here) The spot I randomly decided to garden in last year: very compacted DARK BROWN Near an apple tree full of moss and several species of mycelium (this is where my new hoop house is being built): BLACK Other spots near heavy foot traffic: really hard to tell. There seems to be a significant amount of rust streaks in the soil. Whatever it is makes it orange-ish in color. Moss and mycelial growth is still all over this area even though we constantly walk on it. Last season I had lots of struggles with gardening directly in the soil on the property, and I've yet to figure out what the problem is (other than compaction, which will hopefully be corrected with a broad fork this year)

[@AussieWinter]

I'm in a new(ish) estate, built 17 years ago. My house is right on the end of the estate and my house has been built on a pile of compacted fill. It's not even clean fill, unfortunately. I've been digging out large pieces of builders' plastic, large chunks of concrete and all sorts of other things. There are also many, many layers. Including sand, heavy red clay soil and some beautiful black soil. I was concerned about planting into it, but my garden turned into a jungle after only a few months! My food plants & (very fussy) Aussie natives just took off! ❤ Unfortunately, so are the weeds. 😂

[@dreamlovermimi9458]

my soil is Heavy Clay, Medium Gray to Dark Gray. ( Midwest USA)

[@rosemawhorter904]

Great video. I'm a Canadian from BC but a few years ago we moved to a mountain top in Haiti. We bought a few hectares and are working to restore our land as a demonstration to the poor farmers around us of what can be done. Our soil is a deep orange, leeched to practicaly nothing, sort of soil. Years of slash and burn, heavy grazing plus 2m of rain each year has taken it's toll. We've learned so much along this journey. We've had to start with planting crops to use as mulch and biomass. Legumes are just now starting o grow well and will play a roll in the next few years of restoration. Our land is now just starting to stand out on google earth as being a green oasis in a land that once was a rain forest. Thanks for these geeky videos. They're nice for those of us that already have a decent base knowledge but want to go a little deeper with understanding.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@b_lumenkraft]

OMG you send me down the rabbit hole with this one. Of course, I wanted to know about the soil type in my region. And boy is there a huge treasure of maps available... Thanks for that. Now I know my place so much better! :)

[@heatherjung8941]

Winnipeg here. Good old Manitoba gumbo that you could throw pots with and turns into concrete lumps in the hot summer sun. I amend yearly with manure,compost,leaf mold. Use soaker hoses and ground cover plants. Veggies in raised beds to decrease compaction. After 20 years my soil is getting easier to dig but not like the southern Ontario gardens of my grandparents. I will continue on.

[@baneverything5580]

I`m in central Louisiana but I watch all gardening channels because there`s always something to learn. My soil was removed on this lot so to have a garden I`m bringing in forest soil in a garden wagon.

[@GardeningInCanada]

That is common at times.

[@GardeningInCanada]

That is awesome!

[@justinkasica2917]

Watching from phoenix I have that light brown soil with the heavy calcium layer, I've had the most success with amending my plants when planting with mushroom compost and worm castings

[@GardeningInCanada]

That is awesome!

[@LB-vl3qn]

Thanks for breaking this down for us so it makes sense, Ashley. I'm in what is currently referred to as zone 8a in north central Texas. However, I do not trust that designation, and so still garden as I did when my region was zone 7. That said, I garden on a small suburban lot with what looks like the stuff the man at 11:30 is crumbling in his hands. I refer to this stuff as the builder-grade starter yard left behind by the construction crew who built the neighborhood. We do have pockets of really nice black loamy soil that was produced by the rotting of the last load of wood chips we had delivered in 2018., but they're very shallow, maybe two inches at most. We placed a new load of chips down last Spring and are using it in mainly in pathways, which will probably become gardens once the wood chips fully decay. As for what;s deep down, it's very difficult to dig deeply, especially when it's dry, because the top several inches of the ground become rock hard, virtually impenetrable. Getting it wet doesn't really improve matters. After a soaking rain, it's nothing but sticky, slimy, heavy, grey clay. We have a few earthworms, but not many. I'm doing as you have recommended here, adding organic matter; lots of leaves, grass clippings, and compost when I find a source I trust. It's definitely a slow build. Thanks again. ~ Lisa

[@angelomanzara6600]

I'm in Ontario and my garden is beside my house and it is all construction backfill against the foundation. I've been working hard over the last few years to change it from sandy, gravel to a dark brown.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Oh man that’s the worst. Just keep piling in the organics and it will switch

[@jeffcoe57]

Zone 2A, Fairbanks Alaska, Lite brown silty/clay soil. It takes alot of amendments to bring up a rich garden soil.

[@matthawkins4579]

I couldn't find a map of my area (Sooke, BC outside of Victoria) that shows the colour zone of my soil, but I did find one that shows the general composition of it. According to this map, I have "silty/gravelly/sandy clay" soil. This makes sense to me...there are a ton of small to medium sized rocks, the soil is extremely hydrophobic when dry and when wet, it sticks together like potters clay.

[@GardeningInCanada]

You maybe found a soil profiles map or soil types. Similar just a bit more precise

[@matthawkins4579]

@@GardeningInCanada it turns out it's a map of soil types used to measure the landslide risk. Done by University of BC.

[@lauramcinnes9225]

Black gold Baby!! But I live in town and the whole back yard is clay backfill. They put just enough topsoil on to grow grass and that’s it! Different in the front yard though….the original occupant of the house must have put yards and yards of black dirt down. So now I’m slowly replacing the front lawn with garden beds.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Interesting! Maybe a backfill

[@ebradley2306]

I live on gumbo clay in SE Texas. It is rather like growing on a concrete slab. There is a thin black layer of organic material on top from years of mulch mowing the lawn. Continually adding leaf litter over the years as a mulch to my flower beds, I let the worms do all the work mixing things up. In my raised veg garden beds I have started allocating a portion to tillage radish to break into and augment the clay soil underneath. Couldn't stand that the raised bed mix dropped considerably every year so a couple years ago I started digging up my garden paths and added the clay soil mineral goodness to my raised beds. Just fill the garden path holes with cheap Home Depot top soil and cover with wood chip. Whatever I am doing the plants seem to be happy.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Very nice!

[@dawnteskey3259]

I'm in Arizona. Definitely a "brown" zone. I had my soil tested this year and the organic material level was 2.8%. I'm adding all the stuff. Leaf mulch, compost, cover crops etc... covered in cardboard and thick layers of straw just to save the soil from baking this summer. We are very clay heavy here, so I think incorporating organic mass will be very helpful. Thanks for this video!

[@leigh-annaward1922]

I lived in Southern Ontario for my 54 years. I am now living in Southwest Saskatchewan, what a difference and struggle to grow a garden here,but I am trying. My garden soil is the last in the list and we are trying everything to make it work. More irrigation is will be a priority this year as well as mulching. Hope they are weong about the drought this year.

[@jb-vz4wb]

There is a book called Creating the Prairie Xeriscape - By Sara Williams, that may be a good read for you. I have not read it, but I think this is considered a great book, and was part of the U of Sask Horticultural curriculum, where I beleive the author was an instructor. It would be very relevant to growing in dry areas and especially in Sask. The book is in limited production(publisher went bankrupt a few years ago) but from what I understand it is available again now, and I intend to buy a copy

[@christineelsey3104]

I hear ya there !! Thank God for Ashley & a few others on the internet to teach old dogs 'new tricks'.. or in my case > about proper seasons, lol.. I grew up in northern, zone 3. Moved to southern Ontario as an adult and never had good luck with most of my gardening attempts. Health issues & life made me give up gardening until about 10 years ago.. it's very good for helping me keep my stamina & range of motion in my 60s.. I only learned about gardening channels online 1.5 years ago. Found Ashley less than a year ago.. Hopefully our new & improved veggie garden set up is much easier to use this year.. lol.. But, although last year wasn't successful ~ redeveloping a garden space to low raised beds was an incredible undertaking, lol.. & I've discovered a lot of mistakes I did make last summer.. But, I'm ever hopeful for more successes this year.. 😊😊.. cuz I did have a few of them last summer!!.. Good luck to all gardening community ~ this channel & everywhere .. ❤❤😊😊

[@joplumridge3974]

It appears my area is humic gleysolic from what the maps I could find say. My particular property has a massive limestone shelf on a large portion that either is not far down or exposed in one area with cool fossils. The house is built on the edge, which has a clay transition from what I can tell. So the only reasonable distance from a water source is rock or clay. This video is very helpful since I do want an inground garden this year, and I have been trying to decide the best way to go about it. Looking forward to your video on soil ph remediation because the alkalinity here is a challenge. I really enjoy what you call your nerdy videos!

[@leahnichol6665]

I am growing in potting mix on a balcony. I did a year of composting on said balcony so have some black compost to amend the spent potting mix. I am testing like crazy to find out how much to dilute the compost. There is zero rainfall so I am the water source. I am learning so much and I have made many mistakes. Thank you so much for this video. I grew up on a farm that is drained beaver swamp. It was black sub-irrigated soil. We got heavy crops if the weather cooperated.

[@WellOkaythen.]

For any curious Australians there is a soil map of the country. I'm either Vertosol, Sodosol or Dermosol. Not great, but my yard is probably backfill anyway.

[@myjewelry4u]

You’re my favorite gardener channel! I’m about a mile away from Lake Ontario the US side, so I have sandy soil. I grow in bags and tubs so very little is native soil. I always use compost and cocoa core. So far so good. I’m a bit late with starting my seeds. But hopefully this week I’ll get into gear! I didn’t have a garden last year, instead I had broken legs, so I’m seriously ready!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Awe thank you 🙏

[@BerrybelleGarden]

In zone 7 in the PNW (coastal BC) my soil is grey, mostly sand, with lots of rocks. We get over a metre of annual precipitation! But I've heard of at least one local gardener who's on clay. Thank you for this helpful info!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Thanks for sharing!

[@markcarruthers3313]

Being from the prairies your soil zones are much larger than for us in Southern (& SW Ontario), where we can have grey, black and brown soils all within a 10 mile radius. Even in the southern portion of our township, we have a mixture of browns and grey, with a few black strips between us and the northern part of the township which is all sand (previously producing a lot of tobacco). The Great Lakes influence our precipitation greatly. A few years ago, our property & an area just west of us got a rainfall of 6”, whereas by older brother’s farm, less than a mile to the East of our property did not even get 1 inch. There were years when our property was under drought conditions, and areas within 10 miles had lots of rain. These troughs of rain & snow often come off L.Huron and L.Erie in strips, going either East or West, or NE deluging some areas, but missing other parts of south & SW Ontario, entirely. Accordingly, our soils in Southern & SW Ontario vary greatly. Regardless, every garden will benefit from manure, compost or a fine mulch.🤷‍♂️ (I REALLY wish we had black soil!!)

[@donadams2419]

We have lots of clay and rock where I live. Mostly rock. When they build neighborhoods, it’s almost all rock. So much so, that basements are 1/2 basements due to the rock. … Also, they bring in about two inches of top soil so that grass will grow. … Our two back yard earth beds, my sons and I dug two feet down using a pick axe and siffted out all the rock. Then we filled the beds with Supersoil and sheep manure at two bags Supersoil to one bag sheep manure. Filled the bed to six inches above grade. Each bed is 10 x 20 x 2 = 400 cubic feet of soil for each bed had to be bought. … We had a few other earth beds where we had to buy soil. … But since watching your channel, we have been able to start to build our soil and make it healthy and a living soil.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

I'm in Texas. My soil is yellow. I suspect that we stole all our sand from Oklahoma. I live in sort of a bowl in the land (sort of), and we get sandstorms that blow in from the north almost annually. The hill that my family home is on is all yellow sand, but everything nearby is red clay and that "black gold" you speak of. I struggled for a long time to get anything growing in it, but my garden is better, now. Mostly, woodchips is why. Now, in my garden, the soil looks like something you'd get out from under a big oak tree

[@richardmassoth8237]

What you may wish to look through for those of us south of Canada is the USDA "Web Soil Survey (WSS)" which quickly gets down into specific locales, in the state and county levels. There's the type of ecological and hydrologic evaluations that you provide, but it's not as generalized as what you have provided. Your video is an excellent overview, and I'm glad to see this video. You should look at the USDA National Resources Conservation Service WSS and the USDA National Agricultural Library's holdings on Soil Science to see if you can find the exact document that is comparable to the Canadian document that you have shown. You might also want to look at some of the documents from the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@belieftransformation]

Great talk about soils! Thanks for sharing. West central Alberta here but in a small town where everything was lawns. I’ve been converting my front & back into garden patches & raised beds for 20+ years & find that I need more manure & compost to hold the moisture. We have lots of Chinook winds & boreal forests around us.

[@56243G]

I'm in Minnesota and my soil is dark brown to black. Back at the farm where I grew up it's jet black over blue clay. There's sedge peat at the farm too.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Oh how interesting! Fun fact blue is a sign of “rotting” and soil that doesn’t drain properly.

[@gweng1983]

@56243G, I'm in MN too along the Red River, and the soil is black-black. Then a few miles to the east, it turns into brown and rocky, a lot of gravel pits. I think it's a result of Glacial movement and sediment being deposited.

[@jgsawka]

Oh so interesting! We're in the Southeast Manitoba area. The soil in our yard, at least the upper 6 inches or so is really dark, black I guess. But under that is a light clay like soil. Our soil can be sticky when we get a lot of precipitation, though with mulching and adding compost I've found its become much less compact. Our plants seem to thrive though!

[@blackmber]

This is awesome! I always wondered why it was called black gold. I grew up in a grey soil area, so when I moved to a dark brown/black area it looked so weird to me.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Haha it’s pretty cool isn’t it.

[@seth7131]

Great video! I'm excited to see your PH video! Trying to fix our clay soil and severe alkalinity is our goal this year! We want to get to no till but our soil needs to be broken up as of now

[@jstoppard1]

Pennsylvania 7b generally I believe we have a brown soil. In many residential developments. The top layer of soil has been stripped and sold. Houses built, backfilled with what was dug from foundation. So it is possible to grow in the soil, not ideal. I did for years, but slowly moved to raised beds. More to allow my old body to continue to garden.

[@painchaud2000]

I'm in New Brunswick and I think I just moved into a zone with black soil....it sure is the best I have ever gardened in. I did till the lawn but it just made the soil even better! Clay and water is a problem, but raising my garden beds did help a lot! Sure beats gardening in sandy soil that can't hold water. 😬

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yes I would rather have a clay soil then sand

[@painchaud2000]

@@GardeningInCanada for sure!

[@dianastewart2587]

Everyone has better soil than I do! I have sandy loam on solid bedrock. I can only have raised beds cause the bedrock comes to the surface. Would there be any value in adding whatever mineral soil I can scrape up added to my raised beds? I'm creating a whole new raised bed garden this spring (about the equivalent of 15 4x8 ft beds and would love some advice on how best to fill them!

[@GardeningInCanada]

You can get a garden loan and it would work

[@refarmer1574]

When we moved back to my family farm and started gardening again, I tested our soil. It tested severely nutrient deficient. Very low P, K, and virtually no N in any of the samples I tested. Yet, my mother had grown a huge, massively successful garden here when I was a kid! I live where the Boreal forest transitions to prairie. We have maybe 6-8 inches of topsoil, then it's basically gravel, sand and clay. We even have a gravel pit on the property. When my parents were still actively farming, my dad would plow our cow manure into the garden almost every fall. That stopped when they no longer had cattle, and eventually they couldn't keep up with gardening anymore. A couple of my brothers would still garden in some of the space, and one of them would plow the area every now and then, but no more manure was added. It makes so much more sense now. We are in a dark grey zone, and have severe leaching.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yes!!!!!!! You totally are. I was reading this and I was like “okay… if they can say the soil zone based on this description I maybe a good explainer” 😂

[@rebeccasabourin6193]

I have red clay and sand. I live on P.E.I,

[@codysaunders7348]

My soil is dark grey, but its not because its sandy. It wasn't low in NPK, surprisingly there was plenty of N in the top 2 inches, primarily clay and silt, but its maxed out on minerals. I mixed compost into the top 6 inches and now its perfect, loose, dark. Plants all grow huge with little input besides chicken manure

[@sabrinaandrus2816]

New gardener, located in Utah. I LOVE your channel, my new go-to resource. Thank you thank you!!!

[@sabrinaandrus2816]

I've got heavy clay- with your help, I have prepared a few in ground beds as well as mended some old neglected raised beds, and built a compost pile for the future. My friends tease me about how much I love my dirt now. Very exciting. Thanks for the nerdy videos!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Awe thank you ❤️

[@donadams2419]

I did some more research after watching this video three times. … Our Soil Zone narrowed down (I think) is in the Podzolic Soil (Huimo-Ferric Podzol). However, I still need to know more about this. Thank you for this video.

[@jaliranchr]

Brown in eastern Colorado at 5400 ft. above sea level. Clay, high heat, hot dry winds -- surrounded by wheat country. A quarter century of amendments has certainly made a difference in the beds. Streambank wheatgrass lawn (to hold soil down as a ground cover, not a show lawn, lol) should be helping with its deep deep roots.

[@GardeningInCanada]

It’s insane how long it takes sometimes to amend a soil 😅

[@aaljabri7524]

11:00 That’s great and can you cover specifically how to lime peat moss based potting soil? For example, what would you use to neutralize new peat moss, ground or hydrated lime? Can you get into the cons and pros of each and the process of using both? I am personally torn between starting 3 months early and applying the slow ground lime or waiting till just before the growing season and using hydrated lime. Each seems to have its pros and cons with hydrated lime standing out in its ability to overpower soil buffering.

[@Cursed_cass]

Im in IA in the Loess Hills. My soil is monona soil, silt clay, and its brown.

[@trill000]

Would love to know for Chicago. The soil looks like black hard clay soil everywhere. We get 900 millimeters (36 inches) of precipitation per year.

[@GardeningInCanada]

So I just looked yours up and it looks like you guys have a two “parent materials”/structures we call glaciolacustrian & aeolian. So GL - is the bottom of an old lake, usually high clay. Sounds like that’s where you are. A - is actually the beaches of those old lakes and will consist of mostly sand.

[@Gayle.M]

I’m in the brown zone and it’s clumpy. I was thinking of adding peat or coir to fix that but it sounds like compost would be better.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Don’t be too turned off by clumpy, you might just need to break stuff up

[@tammyfortin6660]

My garden has pretty dark almost black soil. Northern Ontario here

[@GardeningInCanada]

Nice! That’s a great sign

[@AmandaZuke]

Same! I think the lakes help to protect and maintain our soil to some extent - they definitely keep us good and humid, at least where I am in the Sault. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hot, dry day.

[@buds8423]

Since this is the newest video, a request: As you are a Soil Scientist, maybe you can explain high phosphorus in high pH soils? As my little brain understands it, while the phosphorus is very high, due to the high pH (>7.4), it is “bound” in the soil, making it not easily available to the plant? Also think that humic acid created at root zone helps release the phosphorus? Illegal, but so many insist on adding phosphorus as, before bound, it does help growth. Unfortunately, leaches into lakes. So- - is the best way to improve Phosphorus availability in this situation to acidify the soil? Or is it to do something else(mycorrhiza, etc)? Keep the Nerdy videos coming!! We need them!😊❤ Another video topic: you covered potting soils, how about the caveats re buying loads of “black dirt”. One load I got was Black because it was ground asphalt! Another, supposedly “organic” top soil was in the highly toxic range of salt. I paid to poison my garden! Apparently this has happened many many times to people I’ve spoken to, but just keeps happening.

[@GardeningInCanada]

I’ll do a video on the phosphorus being “released” because that’s a good point.

[@GardeningInCanada]

The black dirt thing is shocking! Are you serious?!

[@vance7354]

Peat is great, Its what I use in by Grow tent indoors. 50% Peat 50% Vermuclite. works great.

[@LifeHomeandGardenwithAnaRica]

Very interesting, I added lots of compost so my soil is pretty good.

[@GardeningInCanada]

That's great!

[@coolhot8867]

Can we add coffee grounds to the ground increase ph level.? Can we make a humidity domes for water for the garden water. To catch the atmosphere humidity. When theres no rain for weeks on end. I think its time to build humidity poles trees for farmers to get water .

[@GardeningInCanada]

The coffee ground now work the greatest. And domes you need to be careful because you can cook your plants

[@CarbonKnights]

Oh lordy, that book brings me right back to year 1 in college Edit: I have a yard full of black gold, it's so nice

[@blacksmithden]

Edmonton Alberta and my soil zone is Subdivision. The "soil" is rock hard compacted dead clay, just like every other subdivision that's had the fertile layer of soil stripped off, then stripped down another 6-8 ft, then had the garbage put back in, and then had 3 to 6 inches of "whatever will grow grass" spread on top. Pretty much every bit of fertile anything I've had to drag in here. Even the "garden mix" soil they sell here is absolute garbage compared to what I use to get in southern Ontario when I lived there. As near as I can tell, all they're doing is mixing about 10% manure, 10% peat, and 80% clay-ish stuff together and calling it good. There's no loam to it at all. The vast majority of what I do on this urban lot is done in raised beds because it was killing me trying to keep an "in ground" garden going. Everything I put in just reverted back to rock hard clay within a couple of years. This year, the plan is to actually try to revive a small section of my original garden to try and grow some tomatoes on cattle panels. Will there be tilling ? Oh yes, there will be tilling. LOL. I'm going to get a couple of yards of peatmoss in here as soon as the garden centers open up for the summer.

[@brianbarker2670]

Looked at your Canadian soil zone map and where is the east coast and west coast of Canada?

[@GardeningInCanada]

Soo you aren’t classified the same as the middle with the large sections. You would have to look at great soil groups which is a totally different ball of wax. I should maybe do a separate video on that… This is the west (fig 13.4) - openpress.usask.ca/soilscience/chapter/soils-of-the-atlantic-provinces/ And then BC fig 9.4 openpress.usask.ca/soilscience/chapter/the-soils-of-british-columbia-and-yukon/

[@PlantObsessed]

I let some jadam over winter I wonder if it is still good?

[@jkplester8917]

Hmmm... we get 860mm avg yearly precipitation. Our avg summer (June-August, possibly through September-October) temperatures are 25-35 with very little rain in many of the most recent years and little to no wind. My soil is clay mainly - though there's obviously one area of my yard that was once used as a garden because while it's clay based, the tilth is lovely. Other side of the yard is straight clay. Could be because the area was once a river? Maybe - not 100% sure but mostly likely as the river isn't all that far away currently and the town is in a valley and we do occasionally flood (though not our area). So... this leaves me a wee bit stymied. LOL!

[@jkplester8917]

Huh, found ONE report on my town from the 60s - talks all about the town's amenities (which are huge in comparison to now) and then gives all the soil profiles of every single town AROUND mine except for the much larger town 25 mins away. *facepalm*

[@jkplester8917]

I THINK grey-luvisol - maybe... though its clay soooo... I dunno. *shrug*

[@Brokersong]

S.e.Michigan. Soil differs greatly here. My soil (vastly untreated for 23 years) is hard gray clay @ pH 8-ish vs my parents soil only 7 miles east of me (mostly chemically treated for 40 yrs) has loamy sandy soil. What happened here????

[@jkmcdonnell1]

I am in Esterhazy Sask area which should be in the black but I feel my soil is closer to brown so I have been composting every year but I have a few problems one is poor drainage I have a clay layer about 10 to 12 inches below surface so my garden can sometimes become saturated . which causes my bigger problem of compaction the ground can become so packed by fall harvest that I struggle to dig root vegies such as carrots and potatoes . is there anything I can do for this

[@GardeningInCanada]

So two things for end of season issues: 1. Taking a broadfork or pitch fork and “fluffing” the space around root vegetables or very compact spaces. 2. Never ever ever ever walk on it while it’s wet.

[@Lance.pigman]

Can we get a highlight of that rubber tree soon!? It looks so good! Mines a fraction of the size.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Hahaha 😂 I’ve had him for so long.

[@Lance.pigman]

@@GardeningInCanada I haven’t had any of my rubber trees for over a year. Can’t wait until my shivereana is as big as your tree

[@suechannen293]

I am in the Annapolis Valley, NS and have yellow-reddish soil. U of Saskatchewan site suggests its ferro-humid podzol or humid-ferro podzol Very sandy, drains very quickly. I have begun making compost and planting in hugelkultur on top of cardboard (for weed control). Any suggestions? I haven’t yet done testing of the mineral soil, nor done a soil profile, but hope to this spring.

[@suechannen293]

*humo-ferro podzol. Autocorrect….

[@Choux317]

More soil vids pls!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Done lol 😂

[@SunnyNot]

So fascinating!! Where could we find similar map for BC? Google wasnt helpful

[@GardeningInCanada]

😅😅 okay soo for you … I would have to do a very long video… yours doesn’t have any major bands it’s just along of soil orders (great groups). I’ll leave a link below I just scroll down till you find a map figure 9.4 and let me know approximately where you land openpress.usask.ca/soilscience/chapter/the-soils-of-british-columbia-and-yukon/

[@SunnyNot]

@@GardeningInCanadaThank you! I think it must be dystric Brunisol

[@angelahorne4266]

I am Lower foothills Gray Luvisols, West Central Alberta....The Gray at the very top of the chart. I think you started just below my zone in this video. Once you cross the North Saskatchewan River we are to the West and our Soil is Clay and my children have never even seen a Gopher our Ground Animal as they do not tunnel in this. I will actually just do soil samples as you suggest in your Garden Planner and ph samples and watch for more of your suggestions. Our Water well is a bit Brine(ish) (Devonian/Nisku Salt Water Sea Bed Formation). The lab work lands on acceptable but the Sodium is on the high end so I do not water my plants indoor or outdoor with it. I have to collect all of my irrigation water. I have basically been growing vegetables in Raised Beds and now would like to plant some Perennial Medicinal Plants and Fruit Trees and so now have to DEAL with this soil. I would love any direction and any resources you can connect me to. Thank you for loving what you do and bringing us all along with you.

[@josephcutler8870]

I have red clay in usda zone 8b. Im planning to do a market garden in ground and im thinking of flipping the area with a excavator and mixing in straw alfalfa and manure from a local organic dairy and cover cropping it for this year to hopefully start next year any thoughts

[@josephcutler8870]

When I bought my property it came with a soil profile map of the property

[@sherigurney9724]

Southern Alberta - brown - interesting how our major crop producing areas are right where the growing conditions are the worst!

[@GardeningInCanada]

🥲 that’s the old dust belt area. Legumes and tap roots will be your friend.

[@blackmber]

I’m in Calgary and the soil in our backyard is black, but the garden is not nearly as productive as my husband’s grandpa’s garden in Raymond. I think there’s more sun and it’s a little warmer so with irrigation the plants grow faster.

[@ourbetterlife8010]

Do you have a link to the soil zone map you showed in the video?

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yes! Sorry I always forget to link stuff like that www.researchgate.net/figure/Distribution-of-major-soil-zones-in-the-Canadian-Prairies-Fig-1-is-built-at-the_fig1_357143436

[@ourbetterlife8010]

@@GardeningInCanada Thank you! Although it doesn't help those of us in Ontario, sadly...

[@mycvslife1810]

@@ourbetterlife8010 I’ve noticed the same. I’ve taped “Canada soils zones map” and found that the gouvernement have made an interactive map so that we can find out, hope it helps you 😇

[@elizabethmantini6774]

you did not mention red clay. How to work with that soil?

[@GainingDespair]

Hmm I have "ultisol" soil (red/orange clay) I live in the southern US specifically Gulf Coast Mississippi

[@glendas2906]

My soil is black and sticky. Turns gray when dry Water table is 2 to 3 feet down.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Blue or grey clay is a sign of poor drainage generally speaking

[@Chaos.Gremlins]

Black chernozemic soil, fingers crossed that's a good thing 🤞

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yes the best

[@tabithadrew9875]

In the UK im in "soilscape" 6.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Oh interesting! Now I need to look this up.

[@lauramcinnes9225]

The UK must be so interesting to grow things in. For a relatively small place there’s a lot of variation from one end to the other!

[@tabithadrew9875]

@@GardeningInCanada I was yesterday years old learning this as you prompted my curiosity to go look. But half my soil is black and fairly sandy and the rest is brown clay and waterlogged. So each garden here depends on who bothered maintaining the garden before you, outside of the map's soil guide, and thankfully most of the garden has been grown in, in the past, and amended along the way by previous owners/tenants. But good for my blueberries to go in the ground instead of containers!! Very good to know.

[@tabithadrew9875]

@@lauramcinnes9225 yes, totally! And the microclimates and what not, and further because of who may have amended what in the garden previously. My clay riverbed garden has been well worked by previous owners/tenants and I don't think matches the map entirely.

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Interesting stuff!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Glad you think so!

[@workingfortheirfuture]

Saskatchewan 'gumbo' soil... black clay! Great for everything edible! 😉

[@GardeningInCanada]

AHAHAH YES! You nerd you 😏

[@loveatfirstsprout88allotment]

My soil is red clay at the bottom rocky gray tan at the top that's what it looks like to me

[@JamesWisdom-fc5jy]

Red clay?

[@GardeningInCanada]

High iron low oxygen or heavily weathered. Is it blotchy or solid red?

[@johnenglish1575]

Watching from sub tropical zone in Australia.

[@dreamlovermimi9458]

as far as Amazon rainforests go in South America, The Native ppl there werent Mayans but Amazonians, Maya people live in South Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, etc.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Where were the Mayan? I’m pretty sure they are the makers of that soil

[@dreamlovermimi9458]

@@GardeningInCanada Per my last comment^ jk , Mayan people live still in Southern Mexico, and Central America. Amazon Rainforest is Brazil, Venezuela, COlombia, etc south american countries.

[@kendravoracek3636]

💚💚

[@GardeningInCanada]

❤️❤️❤️

[@miramirez3574]

Red sand?

[@GardeningInCanada]

That’s an aged soil. So high iron and low nitrogen, low organics, low phos, low magnesium. Your key is going to be increased organics, ideally manure in your case. And then supplement in fertilizer when applicable

[@buds8423]

I’ve never heard of this soil zone descriptor. Color, wind,evapotranspiration, and organic matter are the determinants? Does it only exist for Canada? I’m familiar with soil types(clay, silt, loam),and soil Orders. I’ve lived in Vertisol ( clay with high rain with periods of drought) @1000mmrain/yr. Red in color, fyi. I now live in Alf/Mollisol(the farming ‘good stuff’) and would say grey/ brown in color, @700mm rain/yr which doesn’t match your descriptions Permeability of soil discussed- not the evapotranspiration part of the water cycle. Hence, winds also never talked about regarding soil. Out west, and high elevations, maybe discussed more? Black soil around here is bad-silt, waterlogged, high acidity and poor fertility

[@GardeningInCanada]

It might be just a Canadian thing. I honestly can find much of anything else. The soil order is a whole other bag of wax 😂

[@stevehatcher7700]

I'm a small scale market farmer. No-till, even, by my own contextual definition. Use the damn tiller, when you have too!!!! Avoid using the tiller, with the underlying understanding of what no-till is trying to achieve, when you don't have to. And, , , , AND, , , if your tiller has really good depth control to keep the tillage at about 1.5 to 2 inches of depth, about the same depth of soil disturbance you achieve with hand tools like rakes and hoes, and the depth you need to work the soil so as to transplant most crops into, or prepare a seed bed, which is why you're using the rakes and hoes, feel free to use the tiller for that task. 1. You're effectively producing about the same level of soil disturbance. Do lower the throttle on the tiller a bit so as not to pound the soil to dust. And no more passes than needed to get ped size to about what you'd get with those hand tools. 2. That very top layer of soil see's all the extremes of drought, monsoon, solar radiation burn, wind sheer, etc. every few days to weeks. The soil biology in that very top zone goes through population booms and busts, every few days to weeks, from those same wind, rain and sun events. For example, three days in a row of intense sunshine, some moderate winds, and the top inch now bone dry, and many of the microbes there have died. Tilling that small top layer is doing no harm, in an already maximum environmental harm zone. Tilling two inches and deeper is what you want to avoid, as much as possible. But the once in a while, deeper incorporation of organic matter is fine. It should, in fact, allow you to get closer to a fuller version of "no-till" / "low-till" / "minimal-till" / "no-dig" (whichever term you prefer to use) faster.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Great post!

[@rhondatrumier5530]

Just moved to Prince Albert. I’m hoping black? What am I Ashley

[@GardeningInCanada]

You’d be black - grey it’s the transition point between the two. If you look at the soil colour would you say is “washout & sandy” or more “black clay”

[@56243G]

I found some very detailed US soil maps about a year ago. There was a pH map of my State that was very good and I want to find it again. Google Search refuses to find these maps now. None of them! I thought they only actively censored political views?

[@GardeningInCanada]

Hahah when you find them back let me know.

[@marilynmitchell2712]

Gardeners are considered dangerous for the government

[@brucemills6755]

Have you heard of the soil sequestering carbon?

[@marilynmitchell2712]

1725 mm average precipitation here.

[@davidmgilbreath]

Not a soil scientist, but USGS - rather than USDA - should have the information you’re looking for.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Thank you! Lol Canada definitely does not have a separate institution for just soil. We lump our under agriculture and agri food Canada.

[@davidmgilbreath]

@@GardeningInCanada you’re welcome, though I hope I haven’t misinformed you; was going off memory. The Geological Survey covers a lot of things besides soil types/distribution; when I looked just now, had difficulty finding it - was much easier before as I recall. Anyway, best of luck; hoping I didn’t give you bad info… 😬

[@jeil5676]

It doesnt really matter cuz the solution to everything seems to be adding more compost.