Soil

Soil is crucial to agricultural and has nutrients that other layers of the Earth doesn't. Soil provides a habitat and an ecosystem for animals and micro organisms. It can also record our past and acts as a cultural heritage. Soil controls the flow of water and chemical substances between the Earth and atmosphere.

Chris: I think the group has worked well at communicating so that everyone in the group knows exactly what to do.

Berkeley:I think we worked well as a group because we all had very similar ideas and it was very easy to decide which design of window garden to make and also to agree on who brought what .

Alex: I think we worked well because we managed to put all our different ideas into one impressive window garden.

Suleiman: I think we worked really well because there was not a time when we didn't know what to do and we used each of our different ideas to make the window garden and we were always in contact about what we should do.

Scottish National Heritage - Soil

Practical 1 Before

Practical 1 After

Practical 1: Soil Composition of our soil sample 

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AIM:
To observe and interpret the composition of sand, clay and silt particles in your sample of soil

Results:
Test Tube :
a) Sand layer thickness = 12cm

b) Clay layer thickness = 3cm

c) Silt layer thickness = 1cm

d) Other = 18cm

OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS:

2. What have you discovered about the composition of your soil?
That their diverse types of material in soil that we don’t pay much attention to. 

3. What is the importance of air and humus content in your soil?
Because they are important for the plant to grow and without it, it would be Compact and the plant won’t grow. It regulates the water and chemical substances in the soil.
4. What does the air and humus content mean for the plants your Window Garden?
That the water would flow down to the root of the plants and make it grow.


Practical 2: Soil Classification and Texture of our soil
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AIM:
To classify the type of soil you are going to use for your window farm and get a better idea of its texture and particle size.


OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS:
1. Describe the texture of your soil samples?
It is smooth with tiny amounts of fine sand that give it a coarse feel.

2. How would you classify your soil sample1 and 2?

Sample 1 was sandy loam while sample 2 was silty loam

3. Explain the relationship between soil texture and soil water retention?

The soil shouldn’t be thin and smooth because then the water won’t get to the roots. 

4. What does this information about your soil texture mean for your window gardens?

When the sand is smooth it gets more compact together and that’s not good because the water would sit on top of it and not filter through the sand and the plant wouldn’t get any water and slowly start dying. 

Practical 3 Before

Practical 3 After

Practical 3: Determining the water retention capacity of your soil.
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AIM:
To determine the water retention of your soil sample

RESULTS:

Soil sample	Mass of soil (cm3 or g)	Amount of water that drained into glass beaker (ml)	Amount of water retained by the soil (ml)
1	100g	67	33
2	100g	53	47

OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS:
Questions:

1. Which soil sample retained more water? How much more did it retain?
Soil sample 2 retained the most amount of water by 14ml

2. Which soil sample retained less water?
Soil sample 1

3. Can you explain why there may be differences in water content between the two soil samples?
Different types of soil i.e. silty loam and sandy loam.

4. Do you think that a high level of water retention in a soil is likely to be beneficial or harmful to plants growing in that soil? Suggest a reason.
I think its beneficial because that means that you don’t have to water the plant as much and the plant is able to take the nutrients from the water and soil. The plant will have a stronger ability to grow and can replenish whenever it needs to.

5. What advantage would soil with a high amount of organic matter have over soil with a low amount of organic matter, as suggested by the results of this experiment?
High organic matter in soil is the nutrients that the plants need to grow and acts somewhat as a filtration system and a reservoir for water and nutrients.

     6.  What value is there in knowing the water content of your soil in your window 
garden?

It will help us know how regularly we need to water our plants and how much of the water isn’t falling into the soil below it. This is crucial because the plant at the top would no water while the plant at the bottom will get the most amount of water
CONCLUSION:
Can you identify your soil types based on the evidence of the experimental results?
What can you conclude about the different soil type’s water retention capacities?

All soils have different capabilities to retain water. From what we have seen, silty loam looks like the best at retaining water as seen in our experiment. There are various factors that contribute to water retention such as density, compact ability, organic matter etc.

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Will this Soil be suitable to a window garden?
Yes. I think it will because it has many nutrients in the soil and the water retention is just right because you don't want water to be blocked and none of the other soil beds get water but you also don't want water to just immediately flow through the different layers of the window garden.