Caracteristic of the soil

Hi! Sorry for my bad english  I need help to determine the sand silt and clay. I know than I have to wait because there is still clay in the water but I didint see the difference between silt and clay.

Not easy for me even if i check photos on internet.

Thank you

Hugo, if you look at particle size, the large particles (clay) are in the bottom up to about the first horizontal line of the jar, then the more fine particles above that are silt.  It looks like a good combo.

Another check is take a chunk of soil, dry it out completely, then the clay will dry, and see if you can break it apart with your hands.  A lot of clay will make it difficult to break without a shovel, like my soil.  My soil even has trouble being broken with a shovel when it's completely dry.

Clay is a good thing, though, because it has good minerals and holds moisture.  If you mulch with organic matter, thick mowed weeds, thick compost, keeping the sun off of it, keeping it moist, the worms will come up into it and do a lot of the work for you, leaving behind great worm castings.

Great! Thank you very much! I will check for that. I have a lot of compost to mix.

Check out Charles Dowding on YouTube, he just piles the compost on top and plants right in it.  In my experience, any organic matter on the top incorporates into the soil with soil critters, so save yourself the trouble of mixing it.  The plants will get off to a great start.

nice!

i am starting hugelkultur...and without actually source of nitrogen (green) i was thinking to put compost in other stages of the piles...but maybe its ok to just put on the top if the nutrient is lowering down?