5 Ways to Improve Your Garden Soil Naturally Without A Compost Pile

There is no doubt that having a compost heap is a great way to improve your garden soil for free. But not everyone has the space, time or conditions to have one. Luckily there are many other ways to naturally improve your garden’s soil. Add organic matter to your soil in the form of manners, leaves, cover crops… You can even use kitchen scraps by adding them directly to the soil instead in the compost pile. Use organic matter as often as you can as it will supply everything your plants need. If you aren’t sure what to use and how to use it check out our list of 10 ways to improve your garden soil naturally.

1.Coffee Grounds

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Coffee Grounds can be used as a fertilizer by adding them directly to the soil. There are many benefits like improving drainage, water retention and soil aeration. They also promote plant growth. To keep the PH level of your soil unaffected use used coffee grounds. You can also use coffee grounds as mulch – earthworms love them!

2.Chicken Power

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Have you ever thought about using chickens’ power to incorporate organic material into the soil? It is easy – all you need to do is park them on one spot of your garden and give them whatever organic material you have. They will start to scratch it, trying to find something interesting to eat. By doing this, they actually shred it and incorporate it into the top couple inches of soil, the zone of most intense biological activity.

3. Cover Crops

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Cover crops are so beneficial to your garden’s soil –  they feed the soil, build up its fertility and improve its structure with each passing season. Choose Legumes as cover crops as they fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into forms available to crop plants. You can also use a mix of different crops like grasses and clovers as the grasses add a large amount of biomass and improve soil structure because of the size and complexity of their root systems, and the legumes add nitrogen to help break down the relatively carbon-rich grass roots quickly.

4.Mulch Mulch Mulch

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Weeds are your garden’s worst enemy – they consume valuable nutrients in the soil leaving very little to your plants. This is why preventing them is very important. The best way to prevent weeds is mulching. You can use leaves, grass clippings, and wood chips. This way you will not only prevent weeds, but also help the soil keep moisture and add nutrients.

5. Rock Powder

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One of the biggest problem for gardeners is mineral deficient soil. You can easily correct this type of soil by adding rock powder. It is well known that decomposed rocks are the ones providing the minerals to the soil so by using rock powder you will restore them. You will also add micronutrients by using rock powder for improving your garden’s soil.