Soils

Exercise: Soil Contents Test:

1. Get 2 clear, clean, empty jars with tight lids. A pint or quart Mason jar works fabulously.
2. Fill the jars about half full of soil from your design site. Use 2 separate samples from different areas of the site. Mark where you got them from carefully.
3. Fill the jar nearly to the top with water. Leave room for shaking.
4. Tighten the lid and shake the jar until all the soil particles are in suspension.
5. Set your mason jar soil test aside for 24 hours, so the particles have a chance to settle. They will separate into clay, silt, and sand layers. If the layers are still settling after 24 hours, leave the jar longer before measuring.

How to Read the Results of your Mason Jar Soil Test

• The bottom layer will be the heavier particles, sand, and rocks.
• The next layer will be the silt particles.
• Above that are the clay particles.
• Organic matter may be above that or floating on the surface of the water.
• The color of the soil gives a clue to its character – light colors usually have less organic content than dark soil and dark soil warms faster in the spring.

If your jar test is 20% clay, 40% Silt, 40% sand = Loam.

30% clay, 60% silt, 10% sand = Silty Clay Loam

15% clay, 20% silt, 65% sand = Sandy Loam

15% clay, 65% silt, 20% sand = Silty Loam

Use the linked soil texture triangle to estimate the soil class. Where layers are unclear, record that limitation rather than forcing percentages. This is a texture estimate, not a fertility or contamination test.

Exercise: Email me to arrange a sheet mulch demo or compost-pile activity. If hands-on work is not feasible, observation of an existing demonstration can supply the discussion.