Testing, Amending, and Preparing Your Garden Soil For Spring Planting

On This Episode of The Modern Homesteading Podcast, Harold and Rachel Discuss Getting Ready For Spring Planting By Testing, Amending, and Preparing Your Garden Soil.

The Modern Homesteading Podcast, Episode 190 – February 21, 2023

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Testing, Amending, and Preparing Your Garden Soil For Spring Planting

We Discuss:

Why?

  • Preparation for planting
  • Improved soil health
  • Increased plant health and growth
  • Produce with higher nutrient density
  • Better water retention
  • Our health, the animals we feed from it

Understanding the Soil Structure

How to Determine the Health of Your Soil

Methods for Amending Soil

  • Adding Organic Matter
  • Incorporating Amendments Based On Soil Tests
    • Nitrogen
      • Animal Manure
      • Green Manure
      • Compost Tea
      • Blood Meal
      • Feather Meal
      • Alfalfa 
    • Phosphorus
      • Bone Meal
      • Bat Guano, fish meal (much lower than bone meal)
      • Apparently, Willow leaves
    • Potassium
      • Greensand
      • Wood Ashes – 50% – don’t exceed 20 lbs./1,000 sq. ft. per year
      • Rock Dust
    • Calcium
      • Gypsum – 23% – up to ½ lb. per sq. ft
      • Wood Ashes – 25% – don’t exceed 20 lbs./1,000 sq. ft. per year
      • Crushed Oyster Shells
    • Magnesium
      • Epsom Salt – 10%
      • Greensand
    • Sulfur
      • Epsom Salt – 13%
      • Gypsum – 18% – up to ½ lb. per sq. ft
    • Low pH
      • Lime
      • Sphagnum Peat
    • High pH
  • Considerations for Specific Plants Soil type, ph, water, sun, shade, nutrients
  • Adding fish, leaves or all sorts (comfrey), ramial chips, as much diversity as possible to your soil

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