A rich and organic garden soil is essential to growing a picture perfect vegetable garden. But if your only idea of getting this organic treasure is at the garden supply store, think again. Anyone can build and prepare a healthy organic garden soil.

After the harvest, right in the fall season, would be the ideal time to build your soil bed. While winter is a time to abandon all planting activities, it is also a great time to fertilize the soil and work it throughout winter.

Find out how you can build your own organic garden soil and grow healthy plants with it this coming spring!

Homemade Organic Garden Soil Guide, Tips, And Ideas

Having grown our own food for some time now, I am perfectly aware of the essence of a healthy organic garden soil. There is a substantial difference with plants grown in a healthy organic soil and plants which are grown in just about any soil. That's why my family maintain a compost bin and pile and compost worms into the bargain.

And how do you prepare your soil bed to improve the soil? All you need to build a fertilized soil is actually available all around you for free. Learn how to build a healthy and organic garden soil as you read further.

Benefits Of Growing In A Fertile And Organic Garden Soil

I think everyone who tried their hands in gardening did not start with the perfect soil. For my part, I amended the clay soil first and condition it for next growing season. Every gardener goes through all this length knowing perfectly well what a rich soil does to plants. Growing vegetables in a healthy organic soil will help grow healthy vegetables thus making the body healthy.

Mulching Garden Bed

Mulching is a great way to help build your soil's fertility. Organic matters can break down in your soil bed over the winter. By next growing season, the nutrients from the organic matter will be collected in the soil for your vegetables. If you have a raised bed, chances are, it will be empty after the harvest season. But don't let it be kept idle in the winter. Build an organic garden soil in raised beds with the organic materials, guide, and tips below.

Free Mulching Materials

1. Finished Compost

The best material to mulch with would be a finished compost. It's already packed with nutrients from the broken down organic matter. Plus it already comes with a high concentration of beneficial bacteria and organisms such as earthworms.

Simply apply the finished compost over your soil bed with a thickness of an inch. Make sure to pull back any undecomposed matter and avoid harming the beneficial organisms in the soil.

2. Fall Leaves

Fall leaves which are abundant in the season is a great material to lay over your soil bed. It has a wide variety of trace elements and carbon, an element which should comprise the larger portion in a healthy organic compost. In fact, of the 15 commonly tested beneficial and essential elements, fall leaves have 11 of 15. These nutrients are absorbed into the soil and the carbon adds humus which retains water. Add a thick layer of leaves to help insulate the soil from the harsh winter temperature.

3. Coffee Grounds And Used Tea Bags

Nitrogen is another component essential to building an organic garden soil. The kitchen has lots of scrap materials which are a great source of nitrogen. Coffee grounds and tea leaves are some of them. Coffee grounds have been analyzed to contain an NPK or nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium ratio of 2.05 – 0.2979 – 0.7469 with a few other trace elements.

Used tea leaves, on the other hand, have an impressive NPK of 4.15 – 0.62 – 0.4, doubling the nitrogen and phosphorus in coffee grounds. Tea leaves also have 12 of the 15 essential elements making it a valuable addition to the mulch layer. Apply coffee grounds and tea bags on top of the leaves making sure not to apply more than one centimeter in any one place.

4. Egg Shells

Egg shells are another organic material you would normally scrap but for the high calcium content. Along with this element are 9 others including nitrogen and selenium, an essential element not commonly found in other free and local resources. Let the eggshells dry up first in a few months to eliminate bad bacteria. Once dry and brittle, directly apply over the mulch by crushing them as you sprinkle.

5. Comfrey Leaves

Besides organic waste materials, you can also grow a soil fertilizer at home. Comfrey is a plant that sends deep tap roots which are able to collect nutrients in the mineral level which is absorbed in their leaves. Comfrey has an NPK ratio of 3.7 – 1.2 – 8.43 and contains all 15 of the essential elements in a healthy organic soil. Apply whole comfrey leaves as another layer of the mulch which will help deposit all of its nutrients to the soil.

6. Other Mulch Resources

Local methods such as cover crops and human urine combined with mulching can boost nutrient level in your soil. Check out some more organic compost materials to use in building an organic garden soil.

More Tips To Building Organic Soil

Water is important in building the fertility of your soil. So after setting your mulch layer, give the bed just the right watering. This will help the microorganisms thrive, to aid them in breaking down the organic matter.

When applying mulch around the roots of live perennial plants, avoid applying thickly. Organic matter in large portion can form a hot compost which may cause damage to the root system.

Watch the whole video from Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable to see full details:

There you go green thumbs! An easy guide to making your own organic garden soil. With this guide, tips, and ideas, I'm sure you can build a fertilized, healthy, organic garden soil. I can already picture healthy spring vegetables growing in abundance. Grow your own food year after year with your homemade organic garden soil.

Did you find the article practical and handy for building your own fertile and organic garden soil? Tell me your thoughts about it in the comments section below. If you have any questions about the topic, I'd be glad to help too!

Talking about organic gardening, learn how to make your own organic fertilizer from compost to boost your plant growth without using chemicals which could be harmful.