My catchphrase is “Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People”.

One of the easiest ways to create healthy soil is by adding plenty of organic matter to your gardens.

Another way of creating a healthy garden is to know the pH balance of your soil and also the pH requirements of your plants.

[Def: The soil pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity in soils. pH is defined as the … activity of hydronium ions in a solutionwww.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_pH ]

The easiest and quickest way to test your soil’s pH level is to buy a pH test kit from your local store and take a few samples of  soil from around your gardens.

It’s best to dig about 10cm into the soil to get your sample. The kit will have all the instructions on how and why to test the pH level.

When checking your results, hold the indicator card nice and close to the test results. This helps to get an accurate reading of your soil’s pH and then decide if it’s suitable for your plants.

Here’s a result from soil in one of my garden beds…looks Neutral, so I’m happy with that !!!

The best reading for general growing is about 6 to 6.5 and up to 7 is fine. For plants that like an acid soil the reading should be a lower number and plants that like more alkaline should have a higher soil pH reading.

The best way to balance out pH and get it close to neutral is by adding lots of compost and other organic matter, as compost is generally pH neutral.

Have a question about your garden?

Join our FREE Soil to Supper Facebook Club and post questions, comments and ideas each day!

Would you like to be a part of an online gardening community to gain a deeper understand of growing fresh food for your health?

Consider joining the Soil to Supper Online Gardening Community where you’ll access resources and information to grow your health and your garden successfully, plus one-on-one support from me.

More information here soiltosupper.com/community/

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Happy Growing !!

Cath

 

©cath manuel 10 june 2013

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