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Cheap and Free Ways to Improve the Soil in Your Garden

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February 1, 2021 by Elizabeth 27 Comments

Successful gardening depends on good quality soil. Although other factors are important, the soil conditions can help or hinder the growth of your plant. If you live in an area with poor soil, or soil conditions that do not meet the needs of your plants, there are a few cheap and free way to improve and amend your soil for a more successful garden.

improved soil being shoveled into a garden

Improve Soil With These Free and Cheap Amendments

Improving your soil doesn’t have to be expensive. Instead of buying compost or fertilizer from the hardware store and spending money, there are many ways to make soil amendments for cheap and free. First, be sure to test your soil and find out what your soil is missing. 

Manure

Manure is one of the most well-known ways to improve your soil. Use manure from herbivores, think: horses, cows, sheep, goats, rabbits, etc. Look in your community to find people with these types of animals. Many of them are trying to get rid of it and would be happy to allow you to have some for free. 

Animal manure provides enough nutrients to replace fertilizer needed for your growing plants. 70-80% of the nitrogen, 60-85% of the Phosphorous and 80-90% of the potassium that animals eat are passed into the manure. Manure also contains organic carbon (not found in store-bought fertilizer) which is essential for healthy soil.

Related: Make Your Own Mushroom Compost

Chopped Leaves

Leaves are great for providing nutrients to your soil. Allowing the leaves to fall and “mold” over the winter is a great way to use them again in the spring. I have a poplar tree and in the fall, I allow large piles of leaves to break down over the winter. Then I chop up the leaves in the spring with a lawn mover and till it into my soil for planting. 

chopped leaves and leaf mold being added to a garden

Leaf mold provides nutrients to your soil. Adding organic material improves the ability for the soil to hold onto water. As the leaf breaks down in the soil, it constantly adds nutrients and food for the plants to grow.

Leaves in the soil also prevent the soil from becoming too compact, allowing oxygen to flow through, regulating soil temperature. This allows water to drain through to soil well, helping to encourage healthier plant growth.

Wood Chips

Wood chips are a great cheap way for improving your soil. As groundcover over soil, it helps retain moisture and a preventative measure to keeping weeds from growing. Allowing wood chips to be tilled within the soil and break down provides even more benefits to your plants and you soil.

As wood chips break down they release nutrients in the soil that encourage healthier plants. Wood chips also prevent the soil from drying out too quickly which means saving more water and using less. Adding wood chips will naturally compost into your soil for years, offering nutrients for a long time to come. 

wood chips in a wheel barrow to be added to a garden

Wood Ash

Adding wood ash to your garden is a great way to fertilize your garden for free. Wood ash does not provide nitrogen, but it does include: phosphorous, potassium, calcium and other elements to your plants that will help them thrive. 

Wood ash is also a great alternative to lime, if you need to raise the pH of your garden soil. Add it to your soil early the spring and mix it well before you plant. It can burn your new plants if added on top of them. Small amounts can really make a difference. 

Related: Planning a Spring Vegetable Garden

Check out our Microgreens at True Leaf Market 

Coffee Grounds

Do your drink coffee everyday? Even if you don’t, many local coffee shops will save used coffee grounds for your if you ask! Coffee grounds are a free way to fertilize your garden and improve your soil.

Once the coffee grounds have been used, you can add them directly into your garden bed, or throw them into your compost. In your compost, coffee grounds help add nitrogen to your compost pile. Used coffee ground filters can also be added.

If you plan to add coffee grounds directly into your planter, keep in mind that the coffee grounds will need time to compost before releasing nitrogen into the soil. However, it will help with soil retention and keep the snails and slugs at bay. Coffee grounds are also rumored to keep cats out of your garden as they do not like the smell of coffee. 

Using fresh coffee grounds will raise the acidity of your soil and should only be used in planters with acid-loving soil.

nutrient rich healthy soil held in hands to be put in a garden 

Egg Shells

Many plants require calcium to grow and thrive. Egg shells can be a great free way to improve the calcium levels in your soil! Simply allow your egg shells to dry out completely after you have cooked your eggs. Then crush them into tiny pieces. 

As the egg shells begin to decompose, your egg shells will release calcium into the soil. The finer you crush the egg shells, the faster the calcium will be absorbed into the soil. Adding these to your compost pile is a great way to improve soil conditions, but egg shells can also be added directly into the ground. 

Used Hay or Straw

Used hay and straw are great ways to add green compost to your soil. Sow old used hay or straw into the soil in the fall and till in the spring. When hay and straw have been used, they are likely covered in urine, manure, and dirt. All are great additions to your soil.

Adding hay or straw to your garden bed once plants have emerged can act similarly to wood chips, helping to retain water and protect against weeds. 

A few things to be aware though is that both hay and straw can contain seeds, which may grow in the spring. Livestock usually eat the leaves and the seeds, but there may be some left on the stalks. It’s also important to know whether the hay or straw was sprayed with any harsh chemicals, as you don’t want chemicals planted in your garden.

Grass Clippings

Grass clippings are a free way to add a lot of green compost to your compost pile. Grass clippings add nitrogen to your soil. One great thing about grass clippings is they decompose quickly and when added with carbon rich materials, make for great soil! 

grass clippings in a wheel barrow to be added to a garden to improve soil

You can also use them as a mulch, much like straw, leaves or wood chips. Grass clipping can help retain water and prevent weeds. 

Keep in mind that some lawns are spraying with herbicides and pesticides, and those grass clippings should not be used in the garden bed. Also, grass clipping can contain grass seeds, which grow quickly and can be burdensome. 

Improving Your Soil Conditions

With a few cheap and free materials, you can enhance your soil and improve growing conditions. Many of these choices can be found within your neighborhood or kitchen. Add them to your compost pile or directly into your garden. You don’t need expensive soils and fertilizers to have nutrient rich soil.

WANT MORE GARDENING TIPS? Be sure to check out 8 Easy to Grow Vegetables for Beginners. You may also like 9 Flowers to Grow in Your Vegetable Garden. 

PIN THIS FOR LATER
Improving soil with free and cheap soil amendments pinnable image

 

 

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Filed Under: Garden Tagged With: beginner gardening, edible gardening, herb gardening, vegetable garden

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Megan says

    February 8, 2021 at 7:43 pm

    Such good ideas, many I have never thought of! We do always save our eggshells around Easter and throw them into the garden for the coming season!

    Reply
  2. Debbie says

    February 8, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    These are good ideas. I used to put coffee grounds in the garden all of the time before my husband got a Keurig. Lol

    Reply
  3. Christina Siwik says

    February 8, 2021 at 9:28 pm

    My husband used manure to improve our soil before he plants his garden. It is a good choice.

    Reply
  4. sabrina says

    February 8, 2021 at 9:58 pm

    We need this information so bad. I am going to start with the coffee grinds. Thanks for sharing such useful information. Hope to have more flowers and less dead plants.

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      February 9, 2021 at 11:01 pm

      So happy you found it helpful!

      Reply
  5. Tricia Snow says

    February 9, 2021 at 12:12 am

    I use manure and organic local mulch. But that is not cheap. But worth it! Great tips!

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      February 9, 2021 at 11:01 pm

      Yeah organic mulch at the store can be pretty pricey. If you have the space, you can start your own compost pile and create you own mulch at home. But it definitely takes time and space.

      Reply
  6. lisa Manderino says

    February 9, 2021 at 5:31 am

    I have heard of some of these, but I learned a lot from this post! We have so many trees so finding leaves to help the soil is one easy one I can do!

    Reply
  7. Tiffany says

    February 9, 2021 at 5:47 am

    This is all SO important! Have a little bit of compost this past year and hope it helps build off last years soil!

    Reply
  8. Jason Gowin says

    February 9, 2021 at 6:10 am

    I actually learned about egg shells being nourishing for your plants this year….I had no idea. I learned about coffee grounds from this post. What a wealth of information you have here! Kudos!

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      February 9, 2021 at 11:00 pm

      Thanks! It’s amazing what can be composted and used the garden!

      Reply
  9. Sydney Delong-Eat Simply Sweet says

    February 9, 2021 at 3:29 pm

    Great ideas! I will have to remember some of these when starting my garden, so I can start it the right way!

    Reply
  10. Suzan says

    February 9, 2021 at 6:48 pm

    I compost much of this and also highly recommend using seaweed if you live local to the shore. Wonderful breakdown of options!

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      February 9, 2021 at 10:59 pm

      I’ve heard seaweed it great! I’m landlocked though and haven’t used it so didn’t want to add it without having experience.

      Reply
  11. Linda Egeler says

    February 9, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    We have been very good about adding composted manure to our gardens every year, and we dump our coffee grounds out around our vegetables. So how is it that we have been raking up all of our leaves and dumping them over our back hill? Chopping them up with the lawn mower is a great idea.

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      February 9, 2021 at 10:58 pm

      I think we all throw things away without thinking that it can be beneficial. If you can use leaves, they are great for your garden!

      Reply
  12. Keirsten says

    February 9, 2021 at 10:53 pm

    Great info. I like the idea of using old leaves to improve the soil quality.

    Reply
  13. Tiffany says

    February 9, 2021 at 11:09 pm

    Manure is my go to but I am excited to try my hand at composting this year!

    Reply
  14. Kristin says

    February 10, 2021 at 5:50 am

    We tried some of these last year, but maybe will try some of your other suggestions this year for our little garden! I really am not skilled in gardening so your posts are very helpful!

    Reply
  15. Chelsea says

    February 10, 2021 at 8:10 am

    I’ve been wanting to create a compost so I can amend my soil pretty much for free. These ideas are great too!

    Reply
  16. Suz | TravelsWithSuz.com says

    February 11, 2021 at 6:24 am

    Great, spot-on suggestions here! I was a Master Gardener a loooong time ago, and helped to start the Master Composters program here in New Mexico. You want a challenging gardening environment?? This is it!
    Ground egg shells, used coffee grounds (and tea), shredded leaves, manure, and composting – especially banana skins!- are fabulous. One caution, though: here in the SW, our soil is quite alkaline, which makes adding ashes to soil or compost a no-no (which was a shame when we heated with wood!). They are fine for acidic soil, but poison here.
    Garden on! Such a satisfying pass-time.
    BTW – when we had horses, and a wonderful supply of manure, we composted EVERYTHING – no lie – junk mail, old clothes, even once, I tucked a dead kitten into the compost pile so my little kids wouldn’t see it, and the next day, it was…gone (not dug out by animals; just composted!).

    Reply
  17. Misskorang says

    February 11, 2021 at 8:15 am

    This takes me back to the days I used to help my Mama in her farm. I used to think I hated it. I’m surprised how nostalgic I got reading your blog. We need to feed and protect the soil.

    Reply
  18. Marianne says

    February 11, 2021 at 9:01 pm

    My Grandma swore by egg shells and coffee grounds… both of which there is always plenty of in my house! We don’t have a large garden, but this really helps out!

    Reply
  19. Sabrina DeWalt says

    February 12, 2021 at 1:52 am

    Great ideas! I’ve used coffee and eggshells before.

    Reply
  20. Sandi Barrett says

    February 12, 2021 at 12:29 pm

    We have been composting for years. I have three large bins, one to put in, one to take out, and one to “cook” – best soil ever!

    Reply
  21. Cindy Moore says

    February 14, 2021 at 3:18 am

    Excellent ideas! I have a compost pile that makes rich soil for my garden. I love adding to it and keeping it going.

    Reply
  22. Danielle Ardizzone says

    February 15, 2021 at 8:33 pm

    I had no idea about the wood chips!

    Reply

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