What’s on the Soil poster
A 6-row table: Soil · Feels · Improve with.
The squeeze test, and the fix for each.
- Sandy — Gritty, falls apart — Compost, to hold water
- Clay — Sticky, holds a shape — Compost and grit, to drain
- Silty — Silky, holds loosely — Compost
- Loam — Crumbly, ideal — Maintain with compost
- Chalky — Stony, pale — Compost; accept the pH
- Peaty — Dark, spongy — Drainage; often acidic
Compost improves every soil type. It opens clay and it helps sand retain water — the same amendment for opposite problems.
Questions about the Soil poster
- What’s on the Soil poster?
- A 6-row table: Soil · Feels · Improve with. The squeeze test, and the fix for each. Sandy — Gritty, falls apart — Compost, to hold water; Clay — Sticky, holds a shape — Compost and grit, to drain; Silty — Silky, holds loosely — Compost; Loam — Crumbly, ideal — Maintain with compost; Chalky — Stony, pale — Compost; accept the pH; Peaty — Dark, spongy — Drainage; often acidic. Compost improves every soil type. It opens clay and it helps sand retain water — the same amendment for opposite problems.
- Who is the Soil poster for?
- Soil belongs to the Practical skills section rather than to a school year, because life skills is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning garden can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Soil poster?
- Squeeze a damp handful. What it does tells you which soil you have. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Soil belongs on the wall where that life skills work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Soil?
- Plant Pests, Composting and Growing in Containers sit alongside Soil in the Practical skills section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Plant PestsCompostingGrowing in Containers
- Is the Soil poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Soil downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Practical skills section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Soil poster print at?
- Soil is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Soil loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Soil on the same wall.
Browse every Practical skills poster, or start from the full catalogue.