Modifying the soil to make it suit the plants

Abstract

In establishing a garden, a municipal ornamental planting, a city park or remediating highly disturbed soils for use in agriculture or horticulture it may be necessary to change the quality of the soil material at the chosen location to make it suitable for the chosen purpose.Soil science today has achieved a high degree of understanding the physics, chemistry and microbiology of soils to be able to help.

This paper discusses how by using a mixture of special composts and lignite (brown coal) it was possible to improve highly acidic, infertile and low water holding natural sandy soil to enable many different Australian native plants to be grown successfully in the Royal Botanic Garden at Cranbourne, near Melbourne. Lignite is not a commonly used soil improver and the use of it required special testing and experimentation.

Keywords

Soil Limitations / Composts / Organic Matter / Lignite

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2014 Higher Education Press