Meaning & use
soil amendment
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountabletechnical
Any material, such as compost, sand or lime, mixed into soil to improve how it holds water, drains or supports plant roots.
Grammar: Countable for a type (a soil amendment) and uncountable as a general idea (soil amendment improves drainage).
Patterns
- add a soil amendment
- soil amendment for something
Compost is a cheap soil amendment that loosens heavy clay.
We worked a soil amendment into the beds before planting tomatoes.
Gypsum is used as a soil amendment where the ground is too salty.
noununcountabletechnical
The act of improving a soil's physical or chemical condition by adding such materials.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: soil amendment takes time.
Patterns
- soil amendment with something
Soil amendment with lime raised the pH of the field.
Good soil amendment can double a garden's harvest.
The workshop covered soil amendment for sandy yards.
Word forms
| plural | soil amendments |
|---|
Common combinations
- organic soil amendment
- Leaf mold is a good organic soil amendment.
- add a soil amendment
- Add a soil amendment in autumn so it breaks down by spring.
- mix in a soil amendment
- Mix in a soil amendment to a depth of six inches.
- soil amendment test
- A soil amendment test showed the plot needed more lime.
- commercial soil amendment
- He bought a commercial soil amendment from the garden center.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fertilizer
- Fertilizer mainly supplies nutrients, whereas a soil amendment mainly changes soil structure or acidity.
- conditioner
- Soil conditioner is a near-synonym used in shops, though it can sound less technical than amendment.
- compost
- Compost is one particular amendment made from rotted plant matter, so it is narrower in meaning.
Word family
Commonly confused: soil amendment or fertilizer?
soil amendment vs fertilizer
Fertilizer feeds plants with nutrients; a soil amendment changes the soil itself, though some materials do both.
Practice
A gardener mixes sand and compost into heavy clay to help it drain. These materials are used as a ___.
Choose one answer.
Materials mixed in to improve soil structure are soil amendments. Weed killer, pots and seed packets have other purposes.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “soil amendment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.