Start with soil | Gardening 101 | Gardening Australia

Whether you’re getting started on a home vegie garden, or a market garden (like Tino), it’s important to get to know your soil before you begin dropping plants into the ground. Taking the time to observe, dig a few holes and get your hands dirty before planting will save you time, money and grief in the long run. When Tino and his young family moved to their Tasman Peninsula property last year, Tino knew his first job was to get to know what lies below - the soil.
He spent time on his property on Paytirami Country, did a few simple tests, and chatted with neighbours to get a snapshot of his soil type and what he could expect from it.
Here are Tino’s tips on how to garden from the ground up.
1 Check your profile.
Dig a few holes to about 50cm so see how your soil profile changes. It’s usually made up of topsoil in the first 15cm, which is full of living organisms; subsoil below this without as much life but still important in making nutrients available and allowing drainage. At the base is usually clay. It’s important not to disturb this profile and bring the clay to the surface as plant roots and water won’t be able to penetrate.
2. Check for abnormalities.
Most of Tino’s land has black topsoil but one section has grey soil and tends to hold water; this is a sign the soil has been disturbed and clay brought to the surface. To fix this, he’s growing broad beans, which will be dug back through the soil as green manure to rehabilitate it.
3. Check the colour.
Soil colour is a great indicator of its drainage and nutrient levels.
• Black - high in organic material
• Red/Brown/tan - has organic matter and good drainage
• Pale soils - tend to be in high rainfall areas and show soil is leached of nutrients
• Yellow soil - has organic matter, prone to waterlogging, easily leached of nutrients
• Green-blue soil - low in organic matter, poor drainage, easily compacted
4. Have a sniff.
It should smell fresh; poorly drained soil is anaerobic and smells bad like rotten eggs.
5. Have a feel.
The best soils are a blend of clay, sand and silt, and are called loams. Put some in your hand, add a little water, mix it with your finger and test the texture. Sand feels gritty, silt feels like moist talcum powder and clay feels slippery.
• Too much sand and it drain well but not hold nutrients
• Too much clay will hold nutrients but not drain well.
• Too much silt and it is prone to erosion.
6. How to fix it.
Adding compost or other organic material is a great way to correct any soil; it improved drainage and helps retain moisture and nutrients. Tino and Joi make their own from a mix of coffee husks, charcoal and chicken manure.
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[@plants4ever48]

More videos like this please!!

[@thanhthaonguyen6971]

Good informations on soils, more videos on soil amendments for different soils too please. Thanks Tino and gardening Australia.

[@reelmatthewswinslow]

I just watched Kiss the Ground on Netflix and gives new respect for soil and how it works

[@manmanseven]

Matt Winslow cheers. Just added that to my list

[@lordbrahma333]

Awesome, Thank You Gardening Australia

[@augustinekopa6560]

I love this so amazing thank you so much.

[@mehranbarahouei2346]

Great.

[@powermonger9090]

Our property is just hard clay, no top soil. It is hard work to maintain and improve and get things to grow well.

[@tudoverde4750]

Muito bom gostei, legal mesmo.

[@mykimikimiky]

this fantastic video left me breathless in enthusiasm that I almost forgot to subscribe! :)

[@gilabola4642]

Didnt know that you can have different typr of soil even in a small garden

[@bernardhaboc4056]

How about compact brown soil ?

[@veganchiefwarrior6444]

soil doesnt go anaerobic Tino, burying organic matter goes anaerobic, hence why organic matter belongs on the soil surface where theres oxygen so it can break down, never dig in organic matter, even the forest has like a 4 inch layer of organic matter on top of clean organic free soil, trees roots grow in soil, fungus grows in organic matter, both very important layers that should never be mixed together, unless ofcourse you are growing swamp plants or trying to create sewerage sludge, its the colloids and nutrients that wash down from the organic matter that feed and condition the soil, and organic matter doesnt make soil black, its charcoal from previous fires.. 2 percent charcoal turns soil black, i learnt all this from a soil scientist who is a second generation nursery man in california while trying to create potting soil and growing rot sensitive tropicals in a wet temperate climate, maybe i should be a presenter on the show 2 huh ;p

[@williamchirgwin8754]

No dig is the only way to go, Charles Dowding champions this concept who has shown it works successful by mimicking nature. Personally, I keep on adding any organic matter, leaving on the surface in a good layer to rot down creating a rich organic layer, not in compost bays or bins, unless I have excess material. After a time, I simply put my seedlings in by pulling the mulch aside, as Charles does in his garden. My view is that any sort of digging should be done only when necessary such as putting in a new tree, otherwise to leave alone to all the microbes and other creatures to do their thing. Nature has it all worked out, it is people that seem to struggle to understand what is best when gardening.

[@veganchiefwarrior6444]

@@williamchirgwin8754 yea thats it, you know..

[@mattdread4994]

@@williamchirgwin8754 you do realise that coal is black and it has never been burnt and peet comes from green matter that has been composted over milenia? Every continent on Earth has developed differently and has different qualities and climate? When you have grey soil with red underneath it is good to rip the soil to bring the rich clay up for nutrient and another thing we do in Western Australia is mix bentonite soils with Sandy soils to improve crops? It just might be that you have been taught what's right for American soils, not Australian conditions? Most viewers of this show are suburbanites whose soil has been stuffed up by the developers who have sold off all the top soil and left the clay and gravel for the new owner to try and work out whatsoil they actually have? Myself, I come from a beautiful place called Redland Bay in a Shire called The Redlands which was the original food bowl of Brisbane which unfortunately has become another housing development, in my mind, a crime of it's own!? American's always think they know everything? It just may be that you have learnt something about the oldest continent on earth called Gondwana!? Not every volcano spews out the same minerals and elements, leaving us new settlers to work out how to get the most out of our soils in this white mans world of barbed wire and fences!?

[@jxmai7687]

@@mattdread4994 Yep，I have not idea about what is this video for. it is very big different to a garden, most new suburban garden only can grow grass.