Testing your own soil to ensure you have the correct nutrients and type of soil is easy to do. Taking the time to test your raised vegetable garden soil before you start planting will help you to avoid future disappointments. If you are building a raised vegetable garden in your backyard and you live in a newly developed track home chances are you will need to obtain good soil from a gardening center or local farm.
There are three essential types of soil. These soils are sandy soil, clay soil and luxurious loam. The soil you want is luxurious loam for your raised garden. to test your soil take a handful of the damp soil and squeeze it in your hand. If the soil immediately crumbles then this is sandy soil. If the soil holds it shape even when you poke it with your finger you have clay soil. The best soil is when you squeeze it and it holds its shape but after poking the soil it crumbles. This is luxurious loam soil.
If you do have luxurious loam soil you want to see if earthworms are already living there. If so, this means you have microbes and bacteria which is beneficial to your new raised vegetable garden. The earthworms will stick around helping the drainage and supplying rich nutrients from earthworm castings.
Next you want to test if you have drainage. To do this dig a small hole about a foot wide and foot deep. Pour water in the hole and let drain. Do this again a second time. If it takes longer then four hours then you have a drainage problem and this is more likely because you have the wrong soil.
The Ph tests the acidity in your soil. This has a huge part in how your vegetables grow. Ph levels are test from 0-14. Zero means extremely acidic and fourteen means lots of alkaline. Plants thrive in a perfect balance between 6-8 Ph level. Refer to this Ph level chart for more details on Ph levels. Most garden centers carry a Ph tester and it is simple to use. Make sure to follow the instructions to get the correct results.
In summary there are four main components to testing your raised vegetable garden soil:
- Soil Type
- Earthworm Inhabited
- Drainage
- Ph Level
Thanks again and happy gardening.
