Gardening to Grow Plants and Flowers Even with Poor Soils

Many people want to be gardeners. But they think they can not do it. They say they don't have a green thumb. They don't have the right soil. Well, if you want a green thumb, sometimes it takes a bit of practice and research for that thumb to begin to turn green. As for the soils, you can grow plants in poor soils. You just have to know the right plants for the right soils. Here are some examples that might help for those gardeners still learning.

Acid Soil:

This is a soil that has a high PH balance. You can find out if your soil has this by buying a home soil testing kit. It only takes a matter of minutes to perform the test. Usually if the PH balance measures more than 6.5 than your soil is not suitable for growing acid loving plants.

What causes our soil to have a high PH balance? Rainwater is slightly acidic, so over time it can play a part. Your soil can also become acidic if there is any lime leached in it through some sort of run off or free draining. Clay soils may also be acidic depending on their make up.

Here are a few examples of some flowers that usually do well in acidic soils:

Begonia - - These are considered half hardy flowers and flowers in the summer through fall. They are also annuals.

Rhododendron - These are considered hardy. They grow from 5 to 10 feet tall. They flower in late spring.

Camellia Japonica - This flower grows to be about 12 feet. It is considered to be moderately hardy and flowers in the spring.

Alkaline soils

This type of soil occurs naturally in limestone areas. But it also can occur because of building's rubble, example would be around bases of walls. If you have this type of soil you may need to use extra compost to increase the nutrient content of the soil.

If you take a soil test and you find your soil testing at a PH of 7.0 or higher than you have an alkaline based soil. Congratulations, there are a lot of varieties in the way of plants that thrive in this type of soil.