Getting a good start - Soil

So I do a little gardening and I was pushed to keep a journal about the garden. In keeping the garden journal I want to share a bit with you about what to do and what not to do.

Where do we start? Whether your a seasoned Gardener or a first time hobbyist everything starts from the ground up (pun intended). Last year I started my first garden at my new house and learned a lot about what not to do. First, don't skip getting a professional soil test. If you have never tested your soil you should get a kit from your local extension service and learn what you really have. (for those of you who really are into gardening you should get a professional test every 5-7 years, and do a home test 2 times a year once in the spring and fall) The professional lab test will tell you what kind of soil you have and what you need to do to adjust you soil called adding amendments.

It's adding amendments that change your soil and build it up to be the healthy base for your future healthy plants. If you wanted to skip lab testing don't skip a home test kit. There are four things you need to know about your soil. 1) what is your PH 2) how much nitrogen 3) how much phosphorus and 4) how much potassium.

For my garden out in the west, Utah, we have high alkaline soil or in other words we have a high PH. we also have a problem with something called "free lime" or rather we have a high calcium content in our soil. My soil PH ranged from 8-9. To correct for this I added sulfur about 5lb/100ft^2 (available at most nurseries)

There is a simple test for "free lime" in soil you can do at home. Get a small amount of soil from your garden, about 1/8 cup, place the soil in a plastic disposable cup. add to the cup about 1tbs of white vinegar to the soil. watch as you add the vinegar to the soil for bubbling and fizzing. If you get a lot of bubbling and fizzing then you likely have "free lime."

Once you have you Lab results or your home test results you can work your soil towards health.

But even with out testing the one thing that will help your soil more then anything is adding organic matter. On average garden soils need 1-2 inches of new organic matter (compost) added every year. If your starting with bad soil you could need 8-12 inches of organic matter for the first year and 1-2 inches for every year after. Last year I added about 1/2 inch of organic matter to my garden beds, I didn't have great results. This year I plan on filling my garden beds to 6 inches with organic matter and mixing with the current soil.

No matter how you look at it, building up your soil will build up your garden plants.