Italian Garden Design

SOIL TYPES FOR ITALIAN GARDENS

What is the Correct Soil for Italian Plants in Italian Gardens?

Italy is a very long Peninsula and soil types can vary from light acidic sand in the Dolomite mountains in the North, thick clay loams inland around Bologna and Tuscany to unforgiving, poor calcareous crusts along most of Italys coastline.

Therefore to discuss the typical Italian soil is rather like discussing the typical Italian pasta dish, as the soil in Italy is as diverse as Italian cuisine. Naturally, Italian plants have adapted themselves for thousands of years to these soil conditions and one can find acid-loving wild azaleas in the Dolomites to chalk-loving Mediterranean plants, like Lavender by the sea.

Before designing your Italian garden careful thought must be given to the type of soil on which your green space finds itself. A simple pH test will establish whether your soil is of an acid (low pH) or an alkaline (high pH) soil type and an even more simple test can be carried out without equipment. Take a piece of moist soil and roll it in the palm of your hand, if you are able to roll a worm shape with it and if it is silky, not gritty, to the touch is likely to be of a clay type. In Italy most clay soils are tending towards alkaline (chalky) and can often be even thicker than a standard clay soil. Heavy alkaline, clay soils tend to waterlog more and drain badly, remaining them wet and cold during the winter, which can rot the roots of most Mediterranean plants. Instead, during the summer this kind of clay soil tends to become baked like cement under the heat of the Italian sun, creating major problems for plant growth.

However if the worm shape simply breaks up in your hand it is likely to be of a sandy nature, which is always free draining and often of an acid nature. This sandy soil can favour acid-loving plants (known as calcicole, like hydrangeas, camellias and rhododendrons etc and the free-draining qualities of sandy soils will benefit most Mediterranean plants. However, by far the best soil type for growing the classic Italian plants like the olive, lavender or any other Mediterranean plant is a free-draining, poor, alkaline soil, the type which one may find near the coast. Mediterranean plants are native to this kind of soil and thus, they have adapted perfectly to growing in the conditions provided by this soil.

Let it be said that it will almost certainly prove fatal, both for the plant and the wallet, to risk planting an (calcifuge) in an alkaline (lime) soil and the same goes for a (Calcicole (lime-loving plant) planted in an acid soil. A plant that is planted in the wrong soil will display signs of suffering through yellowing leaves, stunted growth and general poor performance. The key to gardening well in Italy is understanding the effects that soils have upon the plants that you plan to plant. It is essential, therefore, to establish this before embarking on planning the plants /planting for any Italian garden project.

Plants for an acid soil (calcifuges) include: Plants for an alkaline soil (calcicoles):

Rhodendron and azalea Lavender
Hydrangea Bearded Iris
Camelia Rosemary
Acer Sage
Heathers Thyme
Birch trees Caryopteris
Ferns Artichokes
Gardenia Olive
Feijoa Vine
Most conifers Agave
Pittosporum
Tomatoes

As you can probably surmise from these lists, the plants that prefer alkaline soils are better known for being Italian plants or Mediterranean plants. Therefore it should go without saying that the choice of Italian soil is almost as important as the choice of Italian house, if one plans to create an Italian style garden!

A clay soil can be improved by adding organic matter and sand to allow drainage and pine leaves can be added to lower the pH (raise acidity). For acidic sandy soils you can use basic lime (Calcium carbonate) to raise the pH (lower the acidity) this is known as liming. Whatever kind of soil you find yourself with, its imperative to know what that soil is and what kind of plants it allows you to use in your Italian garden.

FOR A PROFESSIONAL CONSULTATION ON THE CREATION OF AN ITALIAN GARDEN CONTACT JONATHAN RADFORD AT ECOLOGICA HERE