Soil vs. Dirt: What’s the Difference & Which Types of Soils are Best? (2024)

FAQs

Soil vs. Dirt: What’s the Difference & Which Types of Soils are Best? ›

What is soil? Comparatively, soil is “alive.” Where dirt is dead and devoid of a living ecosystem, garden soil is full of living organisms that help plants thrive. Soil is created when mountain stones and bedrock are broken down by wind and rain over centuries, with input from plants, animals, and bacteria.

Dirt Is Dead

It has none of the minerals, nutrients, or living organisms found in soil. It is not an organized ecosystem. There is no topsoil or humus, no worms or fungi. Lacking texture and structure, dirt does not compact when wet, unlike a handful of soil.

Loam soil is often thought of as the ideal soil type for plants because it's a combination of all the above-mentioned soils. It also has enough nutrients to sustain plants and crops. It's easy to plant with and drains well. Numerous plants and crops plant well in loam soil.

Landscape professionals often call topsoil fill dirt – but it's really not actual dirt. Dirt is what you find when you excavate a basem*nt or attic. No plants thrive in dirt. Topsoil, on the other hand, contains natural organic matter from leaves, grasses, weeds and tree bark that can help sustain plant life.

The best soil for gardening is well-draining but moisture retentive. While loamy soil is ideal for most plants, it's important to keep in mind that different plants thrive in different types of soils. For example, succulents need sandy soil, and certain trees and shrubs thrive in clay soils.

Garden soil is meant to be spread around. Mix garden soil in with your native dirt to improve it. Its organic components break down over time, to enrich and improve the native dirt it's mixed with. Use it for planting flowers, bushes, trees and even fruits and vegetables in your garden.

Plants require healthy soil to flourish. Even if a plant could strike down roots in dirt, the lack of available nutrients would keep the plant from growing properly. Can you mix dirt with potting soil? There is usually no reason to mix dirt into potting soil.

The ideal mixture for plant growth is called a loam and has roughly 40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay. Another important element of soil is its structure, or how the particles are held together - how they clump together into crumbs or clods. A loose structure provides lot of pore spaces for good drainage and root growth.

Most plants prefer a neutral soil, but some plants prefer acidic soil, and some plants tolerate a more alkaline soil. Alkaline Soil has a pH over 7.5. Sulfur and ammonia fertilizers can be added to soil to make it more acidic. Acidic Soil has a pH between 5.5 and 6.5 but some soils can be strongly acidic.

Loam soil. Loam soil is very common and it is often considered a very safe option to go with, particularly because it's a mixture of soil, silt, and clay. Characteristically, it combines the benefits of all of the components that it is made up of, making it a suitable option that has a very wide application.

Should I mix sand with topsoil? ›

Using a dry topsoil and sand mix is much better for leveling uneven areas than putting sand on a lawn without mixing.

Will grass grow in fill dirt? If you are starting a lawn from sod, amend the fill dirt, pack it down tightly, and lay the sod on top of it. If you are starting a lawn from seed, pack the fill dirt down tightly, add a 4- to 6-inch layer of topsoil, and then sow the seed.

The clay soil had the highest water holding capacity and the sand soil had the least; clay>silt>sand. Clay particles are so tiny and have many small pore spaces that make water move slower (the highest water holding capacity).

Considered the most fertile of soil type, loamy soils are a combination of sandy, clay and silt particles. The clay and silt particles improve moisture retention while the sand minimizes compaction and improves drainage. Loamy soils don't get dried out in the summer, but also don't get water-logged in winter.

Making a Basic Potting Soil Mix

For a basic mixture, mix 1 part peat and/or coco coir to 1 part perlite and/or vermiculite. Adjust the mixture to retain more water by increasing the amounts of coco coir and vermiculite.

Loamy Soil: The gold standard for most gardeners, loamy soil has a balanced mix of sand, silt, and clay. It retains moisture while ensuring good drainage and is rich in nutrients and organic matter.

While some may use the terms dirt and soil interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Simply put, dirt is dead, while soil is vibrantly alive. Dirt is a lifeless mixture of minerals, air and water.

Dirt is dead. Soil, on the other hand, is teaming with bacteria, fungi, algae and other tiny creatures that are the foundation of a symbiotic ecosystem. Like all living things, soil has health; defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a diverse living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals and humans.

It is more than just dirt. Good soil has the nutrients we need to grow crops such as wheat, rice, and corn. Healthy soil makes it possible to feed Earth's more than seven billion people. We often ignore the land we need for food.