by Nancy Heide
One of the more common causes of plants to fail is poor soil quality. Undertaking an improvement to your garden soil is a great endeavor. It would be much easier to find plants that will grow in your particular soil. However, if you can't find any to suit your tastes, amending the soil is your next step.
When feasible, begin with a test of your soil for pH and texture during mid fall. There are professional agencies available to do this, and since it is sometimes difficult to interpret the results, these are recommended. Contact your local agriculture extension office for locations of businesses that perform soil tests. If you decide to test your soil yourself, you can purchase kits for the same purpose at your local garden center or mail order catalogue. Either way, be sure to get a reliable sample. This means mixing the soil from several similar areas in your yard and avoiding contamination of the sample by cigarette, debris from garden tools, or other foreign materials.
Your test results will include measures of the pH level, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. Interpreting them is the key to improving your soil quality. Acidity and alkalinity are measured on the pH scale. This scale runs from 0 to 14, with a neutral point of 7. Lower numbers indicate acidity, and higher numbers indicate alkalinity. Most plants grow best in slightly acid soil 6.5, but there are exceptions to this rule. Check a reliable garden book for the preferences of your prized plants and use only as much corrective material as you are sure you need.
Since decaying organic matter causes acidity, most garden soils are slightly acidic. To increase the alkalinity of soil, apply finely ground limestone in fall. Work the limestone into the soil to a depth of 8 –12 inches. Soil that is heavy will need more limestone to adjust the pH than soil that is sandy and light. In medium loam use 70 pounds per 1,000 square feet to raise pH from 5.5 to 6.5.
Alkali is a property of many inorganic metallic elements. To increase the acidity of the soil, use peat moss. 50 pound per 1,000 square feet will lower pH by about one point and also improves the tilth of too light or too heavy soil. Flowers of sulphur, available at garden centers, also increase acidity of the soil. When applied, they quickly turn to sulphuric acid in the soil, changing pH more rapidly than peat moss. Like limestone, flowers of sulphur are applied in greater quantities to heavier soils than to lighter soils. Work the sulphur in to a depth of 12 inches
If your soil tests reveal a deficiency of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, or Potassium (N, P, K respectively), apply fertilizer to your soil. This comes in many forms from any garden center. Bone meal is my personal favorite, which I apply in spring.
Adding compost to your soil also greatly improves its quality. When organic material decays, it begins to turn into rich humus. This adds valuable nutrients to your soil. Use it as mulch or dig it in, as you would manure.
Take this link back to the main list of documents.
