{"id":3840,"date":"2026-05-21T10:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/?page_id=3840"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:47:15","slug":"soils","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/soils\/","title":{"rendered":"Soils"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This information supplements the &#8220;Soils&#8221;&nbsp;section of the Rain Garden Manual for Vermont and the Lake Champlain Basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soils are the foundation of a rain garden, and understanding the differences between types of soil as well as finding out&nbsp;which type of soil you have is&nbsp;important&nbsp;in the overall effectiveness of your rain garden. Clay, sand, and silt are the three broad soil type categories, but you can be much more specific in your classification. Read more to learn about key terminology that you may come across and methods to assess what type of soil you have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Useful Terminology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Soil texture: the proportion of small (clay), medium (silt), and large (sand) soil particles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Soil structure: the arrangement of soil particles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Soil porosity: the space between soil particles, normally consisting of water and air<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Water infiltration: the movement of water from the soil surface into the soil profile<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Permeability: the ability of air and water to move through the soil<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.noble.org\/news\/publications\/ag-news-and-views\/2001\/september\/soil-and-water-relationships\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Noble Research Institute<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Supplemental Information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.psu.edu\/soil-health-soil-physical-properties\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Video on the physical properties of soil<\/a>&nbsp;by Penn State Extension&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Learn how to conduct a soil percolation test&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3-jiJ_rnCeE&amp;ab_channel=TreePeople\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. (Editor&#8217;s note: she should dig her percolation test hole deeper- at least 24-inches deep, preferably 36-inches.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">USDA&#8217;s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrcs.usda.gov\/wps\/portal\/nrcs\/detail\/soils\/survey\/?cid=nrcs142p2_054167\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Soil Texture Calculator<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check out these&nbsp;videos for more information on testing your soil:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"What is a Soil Ribbon?\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2FjxKnJURBI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Soil texture by feel\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GWZwbVJCNec?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This information supplements the &#8220;Soils&#8221;&nbsp;section of the Rain Garden Manual&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-3840","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3841,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3840\/revisions\/3841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}