Before diving into the main soil preparation for your designated garden area, it’s essential to consider what plants are currently growing there, as some of them can indicate the type of soil and its fertility. In acidic soils, you might find field horsetail, common sorrel, plantain, and buttercup. Weakly acidic and neutral soils typically host fragrant chamomile, coltsfoot, creeping bentgrass, field bindweed, garden thistle, meadow clover, and creeping clover. In areas where the soil solution is close to neutral, you’ll often see stinging nettle.
However, if you find alder, aspen, or willow growing nearby, those areas are unsuitable for planting fruit crops. On the other hand, if you spot oak, maple, rowan, wild rose, as well as grasses and legumes in the vicinity, you can confidently plant fruit trees in that area.
You can determine the soil type using a simple test. Take a handful of topsoil and knead it into a thick “dough,” then shape it into a ring. If the ring holds together without cracking, the soil is clayey. If you can’t form a ring and the dough crumbles apart, the soil is loamy. If the soil is sandy, you won’t be able to form any shape at all.