by margaret

Often we plant our seeds, transplant our seedlings, and dig
in the dirt all for the enjoyment of gardening. As gardeners we’ve gotten good
(or tried to get good) at weeding, mulching, fertilizing, pruning, and
propagating, but a key aspect of gardening is missing if we aren’t testing our
soil. All of the aboveground tending to our plants can’t tell us if the three
essential elements, nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium, are low or in excess.
We also can’t size up the pH of garden soil without a little digging.

Late winter and spring, before your plants are in the
ground, is a great and ideal time for testing your soil. When nitrogen,
phosphorus, or potassium, as well as the pH are low in our garden beds, our
plants can suffer deficiencies and be held back. However, if these components
are too high, your plants will also suffer from the excess, so piling on the
nutrients blindly isn’t the answer.

Luckily, to test the soil, you only need a few tools, a
little time in the chilly, spring garden, and a soil test kit which can be
found at virtually any garden center or online. For starters, you’ll want to
select a few areas in the garden where you can dig a hole one foot across by sixteen
inches deep. Keep these holes about every ten feet to really get a sense of the
soil your plants are growing in.

Scrape some of the soil from along the inside of the hole
into a plastic cup so you have about two tablespoons of soil from each hole.
You’ll want to mix these soil samples together and break up clumps of soil;
this will allow for a more accurate result across you garden area and let you
treat the entire bed equally once you have the results.

Test this soil following the directions on the back of your
test kit package. This may mean slipping a probe into the mixed soil for a
digital reading, or adding distilled water to the mix and testing the wet
solution using a color chart. Once you know the quality of your soil you can
compare it to the needs of the types of plants you want to grow. Most plants
enjoy a steady amount of the three elements and a pH from 5.5 to 7.0, but not
all plants do, so knowing your plants’ preferences is crucial.

After looking up your plants’ needs and knowing your soil’s
condition, add amendments such as humus, lime, bone meal, or compost to the
soil, mixing them in well, and recheck the soil after a month or two. This
should have your soil ready for planting by mid-spring and give you some of the
healthiest looking plants on the block. Remember, however, that your plants are
going to absorb the nutrients, and treatments you use throughout the year can alter
the composition, so plan on checking your soil again every fall and spring.