5 soil tips to help you grow better vegetables

Vegetables may grow in poor, uncultivated ground — but they won't produce their best crops. Here's how to get the perfect soil for a more bountiful harvest.

• If your soil is heavy and dense, it may contain too much clay. If it's loose and light, it probably has an overabundance of sand.
• The perfect garden soil is loamy and friable. It should be dark and rich in colour.
• To test, work a handful into a ball. It should mould easily and keeps its shape, but crumble at a touch.

• Both clay and sandy soils might not have enough organic matter.
• When organic matter decays, it separates and lightens clay particles. For sandy soil, it binds particles together and increases their water-holding capacity.
• Add composted leaves, grass clippings, straw or well-rotted manure to eventually change the soil consistency.
• Organic matter will make the soil loose enough for seedlings to thrust their way through, but dense enough to support their roots.
• By adding organic matter, you'll enrich the soil with nutrients that all plants need to grow and flourish.

• One of the best sources of organic matter is a compost pile.
• Almost any soft vegetable matter will do. You can use dried leaves, vegetable wastes from the kitchen, hay from a local farmer or well-rotted manure.
• Add a nitrogen source, such as alfalfa meal, to aid in decomposition.
• Spread to a depth of five to eight centimetres (two to three inches). Then dig the additions in by hand or with a rotary tiller.
• Soil cultivation is best done in fall. The ground is warm and dry, and you have the winter months ahead to break down the materials into humus.
• By spring, the additions will be blended in, making the soil richer and more friable.

• All plants need a proper balance of three major nutrients — nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
• Soils deficient in any one of these elements won't produce healthy plants.
• One way to ensure proper nutrient balance is to spread on a complete organic fertilizer.

• If your soil, enriched and fertilized as it is, still doesn't nurture healthy plants, it may be a matter of pH.
• pH refers to the degree of acidity or alkalinity of the soil. This is measured on a scale of 1 (totally acid) to 14 (totally alkaline).
• Acidity is a common problem, especially in the eastern portion of North America.
• Sandy or clay soil will probably measure on the lower, acidic end of the pH scale.
• Ground where pines, oaks or rhododendrons thrive may also be acidic.
• Vegetables grow best in a soil with a pH reading between 6 and 7.
• If your soil is too acidic, correct the imbalance with a dressing of finely ground limestone.
• Extremely alkaline soil can be treated with peat moss or powdered sulphur.

Quality vegetables depend, in part, on soil conditions. Check that your soil is veggie-friendly and, if it isn't, be sure to take steps to make it better. Your plants could thank you with a better harvest.