First-time Gardener. Kim Wilde

      3 Match the resultant colour against a colour chart supplied in the kit. This will correspond to a pH value and tell you to what degree your soil is acid or alkaline. Neutral soil has a pH of 7; a lower number indicates an acidic soil and a higher number, an alkaline soil.

       The best soil

      It is generally accepted that a neutral to slightly acidic pH would be the most beneficial in order to grow the widest range of plants. So a pH value somewhere between 5 and 7 would be ideal.

      Alkaline soils are a problem if you wish to grow rhododendrons and heathers as both of these species thrive in acidic soils. Alkaline soils are also problematic because of their high level of calcium. Calcium increases the rate of decomposition of organic material, making it necessary to add manure to the soil more often.

       Rhododendrons are not difficult to grow, but they do require an acid soil to do well.

       Lavender originates from the rocky terrain of the Mediterranean and manages well in dry, stony soil.

Improving and buying soil

      The most important thing you can do to keep all the plants in your garden happy and healthy is to improve your garden soil. The best way to do this is to increase the amount of organic matter that it contains by adding your own garden compost or well-rotted farmyard or stable manure. This last needs to be at least a year old because fresh manure can actually kill plants.

      Organic matter consists of the dead and decomposing remains of animal and plant life and gives better overall soil fertility. Among other things it provides nutrients for plants, improves drainage, and helps retain moisture in the soil. Garden compost, farm manure, leaf mould and spent mushroom compost, are just some of the more common sources of organic matter. Any of these are not only good for improving the soil, but they can be used as a mulch to conserve moisture and suppress weeds if spread generously across the surface of a bed. Over time, worms will incorporate the mulch into the soil below. Organic matter incorporated into clay soil in the autumn will open it out, allowing more freedom for the circulation of air and water, promoting healthy root growth. Digging organic matter into sandy soils in the autumn will improve water and nutrient retention by acting like a sponge. Incorporate it into the soil whenever possible. I also make good use of potting compost that has already been used for seasonal bedding plants, spreading it across the vegetable garden and lightly forking it in before sowing seeds.

      If you are starting to tackle your garden for the first time, the more you can do to improve your soil before planting the better. I have seen newly planted shrubs in poor, unimproved soil that, after a couple of growing seasons, have hardly made any growth at all. In soil that has had plenty of organic matter to bulk it up, the same shrubs would be almost mature in the same time.

      The soil in our garden was originally poor, dry and free draining; I have selected plants that are suitable for this type of soil but I also continually improve the soil.

      It is hard work though! When you finally manage to persuade your local farmer or stable owner to deliver you a load of well-rotted manure you will suddenly realize that it’s heavy, and it takes a lot of effort to move it all around the garden! But once the job is done, you can sit back, safe in the knowledge that the worms will get to work on it, pulling it down into the soil, and eventually the organic mulch will add nutrients and structure to the soil.

       KIM’S TIPS

       Plants are only as good as the soil that they grow in, so develop a regular habit of making your own compost, and enriching your soil with it whenever possible.

       If well-rotted manure isn’t available from a local farm, you can buy or order it at garden centres.

       Buying top soil

      If you are redesigning your garden, or if your existing soil is very poor, you may decide that you need to bring in some extra topsoil. The quality of topsoil for sale can vary a lot, so it’s always best to look at it before buying it. Ideally the soil should be dark – humus rich – crumbly and free from stones and perennial weeds. Also get some advice on how much you need for any particular space – a couple of tonnes may sound a lot, but when it is spread out it doesn’t go that far.

      • If you need a lot of soil to increase ground levels in a garden area, an average quality of soil will be okay. You can then incorporate organic matter into the top layer to improve the quality further.

      • If you just need a small amount of topsoil for a planting layer over existing poorer soil, it’s really best to buy a more expensive ‘screened’ grade of soil. Screened soil has been sieved to remove stones and also any rubbish and most weeds.

      It is also worth contacting your local council as many of them now operate a composting scheme where garden waste, cardboard and other biodegradable materials are collected from designated household bins and are composted on a massive scale. The resulting compost produced from these recycled materials makes an excellent soil conditioner and can save the need for buying large quantities of topsoil – and help the environment at the same time.

       Incorporating organic matter into soil greatly benefits the whole garden, not just raised vegetable beds.

       Basic botany

       Plants play the most important role in the cycle of life on our planet. Without plants, there would be no human or animal life on Earth. It is believed that millions of years ago, algae that grew in the planet’s seas somehow triggered the evolution of land living plants. These then in turn provided food for land-living animals as they evolved.

      The oxygen we breathe also comes from plants as a byproduct of photosynthesis, which is the way a plant makes food for itself, and as part of this process plants also produce oxygen.

      Leaves are the main food-making part of most plants. Chlorophyll is the green part of the leaves and captures energy from the sun. Using carbon dioxide and water, the leaves produce food in the form of sugars and starches, which provide the plant with energy to grow. Plants take in the carbon dioxide through tiny holes in their leaves, just like the pores in our skin, and oxygen is released as a by-product of photosynthesis through these tiny holes.

      The plants also take in the water they need through their roots and lose water again through the tiny holes in their leaves. This process of taking in water and releasing it again is called transpiration.

      For millions of years, the plants that existed on our planet were very simple in form and did not even produce what we think of as seeds. These early plants included tree ferns, horsetails, mosses and some conifers. They produced spores to reproduce, rather than flowers and seeds. Indeed, we still refer to them today as ‘non-flowering plants’.

      Evolution eventually produced flowering plants that could spread themselves over greater distances by the dispersal of seeds. Through evolution, plants adapted to individual conditions, and it is estimated there are now over 260,000 species of plants identified.