I have a secret to admit... Until this year I had never tested my soil. I just operated under the notion that as long as I rotated my crops from year to year, I didn't have to bother with testing my soil. However, it is a necessary step that I think had I bothered to take years ago, I may have saved myself some headaches. Let me tell you a little bit about the importance of soil testing.
Planting a garden without first testing your soil is like baking a cake without making sure your oven is preheated. It is a lack of preparation that does, in fact, affect the outcomes.
With as much effort as most of us put into our gardens yearly, we want to make every effort to be sure that all of those hours of tilling, hoeing, and little drops of sweat that go into the yield we hope to get from the soil.
This year was going to be different, I finally decided to take that little extra step to give my garden the best chance possible. So, I started by ordering a simple soil testing kit from Amazon, this is the exact one I chose... (affiliate link included)
Planting a garden without first testing your soil is like baking a cake without making sure your oven is preheated. It is a lack of preparation that does, in fact, affect the outcomes.
With as much effort as most of us put into our gardens yearly, we want to make every effort to be sure that all of those hours of tilling, hoeing, and little drops of sweat that go into the yield we hope to get from the soil.
This year was going to be different, I finally decided to take that little extra step to give my garden the best chance possible. So, I started by ordering a simple soil testing kit from Amazon, this is the exact one I chose... (affiliate link included)
It wasn't as difficult as I imagined and the kit has enough to use it 40 times. I simply took a few scoops of soil from various locations in my 48 x 25 foot garden plot and followed the directions. I promise it wasn't as daunting as I had feared for so many years.
So here is what I learned. My potatoes likely haven't been doing so well the last few years because my soil PH was not ideal for potatoes. This is a simple fix by adding some limestone to the area I will be planting my beautiful Amethyst potatoes in this year. I may well have been having problems with my tomatoes and cucumbers as a result of low nitrogen levels which I needed to treat.
Do you see, there was so much information just waiting to be uncovered and I had been missing it. No amount of blood sweat and tears was going to make the plants do better without some of the basics being addressed from the beginning. Okay, so this year we are going to give the plants the best chance at flourishing, something we all want, yes?
Here is the other thing, if you are like me, and you avoid any chemicals on your garden it is imperative to have the healthiest plants possible because unhealthy plants are even more susceptable to diseases and pests that end up being an organic gardener's worst nightmare.
Hopefully, this year armed with the knowledge of the basics, I will be able to maintain the best possible soil for growing a variety of the beautiful plants I hope to see brimming over the borders of the garden this summer.
It is worth it, if you are going to garden, take the one extra step and learn about the importance of soil testing before planting this year.
Now that is out of the way, we got the cold weather crops started in the garden, and of course I have helpers...
So here is what I learned. My potatoes likely haven't been doing so well the last few years because my soil PH was not ideal for potatoes. This is a simple fix by adding some limestone to the area I will be planting my beautiful Amethyst potatoes in this year. I may well have been having problems with my tomatoes and cucumbers as a result of low nitrogen levels which I needed to treat.
Do you see, there was so much information just waiting to be uncovered and I had been missing it. No amount of blood sweat and tears was going to make the plants do better without some of the basics being addressed from the beginning. Okay, so this year we are going to give the plants the best chance at flourishing, something we all want, yes?
Here is the other thing, if you are like me, and you avoid any chemicals on your garden it is imperative to have the healthiest plants possible because unhealthy plants are even more susceptable to diseases and pests that end up being an organic gardener's worst nightmare.
Hopefully, this year armed with the knowledge of the basics, I will be able to maintain the best possible soil for growing a variety of the beautiful plants I hope to see brimming over the borders of the garden this summer.
It is worth it, if you are going to garden, take the one extra step and learn about the importance of soil testing before planting this year.
Now that is out of the way, we got the cold weather crops started in the garden, and of course I have helpers...
