The Squeeze Test
Fill a glass halfway with water and head to the garden. Dig about 4-6 inches down and shovel out a generous scoop of soil into the water. Scoop it out, and squeeze the soil in your hand. If it falls apart immediately you’ve got sand. If stays rigid in a ball, you’ve got clay. And if you find that it’s staying together, yet crumbles easily: loam.
Alternatively, rub the wet soil between your fingers. If it’s gritty, then it’s sand. If it’s slimy, then clay and if it’s smooth then likely it’ll be silty. This is one of the roughest soil tests but can give you a quick general idea.
The Ribbon Test
Begin in the same way as with the squeeze test, fill a glass with water and add a hefty scoop of soil. Then proceed to form a ball with the moistened soil. Once formed, gently squeeze the ball out to form a ribbon. From there, hold it vertically. If you cannot form a ribbon at all, you’re likely dealing with sandy soil. If there is little to no breakage at all, clay soil. Loamy soil will form a short ribbon (less than an inch) while a clay/loam will hold around 1-2 inches.
The Best of the Soil Tests: Jar Method
This is the most accurate of the soil tests; begin by selecting any standard mason jar. Head to your garden and fill about 1/3 of the jar with soil. Avoid any debris like rocks or twigs as you scoop in your soil. Once scooped, fill the jar to just about the top with water. Finally, add a dash of dish soap, secure the lid and shake vigorously. Then set the jar down and let it settle for at least a day (or as little as an hour); but the longer the better.
Once settled, your layers should be discernible. Measure our the total amount of soil at the bottom, then divide the amount of each layer that is visible by the total. Multiply by 100 to find your percentage. Your bottom layer will be sand, the middle layer silt and then the top layer will be your clay.
Julie reminds us, “loam is often the ideal soil composition, we look to see a composition of 40-40-20 of sand, silt and clay respectively. If your percentages are around that mark, consider investigating or learning about other aspects of your garden and soil.
We wish you the best of luck using our soil tests! For more inspiration on all things home, garden and lifestyle, keep reading on the Wild Blog. And, if you don’t already, be sure to follow us on Instagram and Pinterest.
