Soil

Building healthy soil builds healthy plants and can save water. Healthy soil acts like a sponge and soaks up much of the water that would otherwise run off the landscape.

Below is a collection of resources just for the home gardener from the UC Master Gardeners of Sacramento County and other external resources. 

Master Gardener Resources

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• Wood Chips: Pros and Cons - by Chuck Ingels
• What's in that Bag?—Soil Amendments - handout by Chuck Ingels, Sacramento County UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor.
• Cover cropping in home vegetable gardens (PDF) what crops to plant and when and how to plant them to improve soil quality and nutrition.  (EHN 87)
• pH meters (PDF, 449Kb) - tested by Sacramento County UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Chuck Ingels and Master Gardeners.  Numbers 3 and 7 were the most accurate.
  
• Know Your Soil (PDF, 80Kb) - how to analyze your soil. (EHN 55)
  
• Garden and Landscape Plantings on Hardpan Soils (PDF, 78Kb) - describes ways to overcome the difficulties. (EHN 53)
  
• Managing Clay Soil (PDF) - describes ways to improve clay soils. (EHN 54)
• Improving Layered Soils (PDF) (EHN 56)

External Resources

• Soil solarization - UC IPM. A non-chemical method to control disease and insect pests found in the soil. (PN 74145)

Videos

• Soils - Digging up the Dirt on Soils (7:45 min.)   California Water Boards. Learn how to transform your dirt.  Sacramento County UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Chuck Ingels presents some of the information.

ANR = free publication from the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Catalog
PN = free publication from UC Integrated Pest Management
EHN = Environmental Horticulture Notes from the UCCE Master Gardeners of Sacramento County
GN = Garden Notes from the UCCE Master Gardeners of Sacramento County

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