Improving Soil
Gardening is a form of art that requires a scientific understanding of soil, preparing the earth, and compromising with nature. Maximizing your garden experience is what every gardener dreams of. Bettering your soil is one task that should be on your mind as you continue to broaden your gardening expertise and your choice in plant varieties.

Posted Thursday, April 6, 2006

Testing your soil will be the first step keeping up on your soil's needs. The pH level is going to be one thing in your soil that you are going to look at. A pH level of 6 to 7 is going to be considered great for your growing needs. When the pH level falls below 5, this means that your soil is very high in acid and is ideal for plants that thrive off of acid- but will still need to be improved if you growing a variety of plants that do not require so much.

On the other side, a pH level that is above 8 means that you have very little acid in the soil and plants like pines, evergreens and azaleas will not much like your soil. You will need to better your soil, raising the pH to ensure that your plants have balance.

How are you going to better your soil? If you find that your acid levels are too high, this means you are going to have to add a neutralizer to the soil that will lower the overall acidity. You can lower the acid in the soil by adding sawdust to your soil, adding leaf mold to your soil mixture or by adding peat moss. You can even add pine needles to your soil to help control acid.

Mixing in these types of additives are all natural methods of controlling the high acid in your soil. Too much salt in the soil can cause the acid levels to be high when testing your soil. To neutralize the salt and the acid mixture in your soil watering will help to flush away the elements of the salt in the soil. To help control the salt and acid in the soil you can also use compost, mulch, or leaf mold to help lower the salt and acid in the soil. If your acid levels are too low, you can easily raise levels by adding bone meal (which is a powder), crushed eggshells or clam shells to your soil, or you can even add wood ashes from your wood stove to the soil to raise the acid levels in the soil.

A few things that you will want to remember when testing your soil and bettering your soil where the acid is concerned: lime will burn your seeds and seedlings when put directly onto the soil where these are planted. Another thing that you should remember is that the soil in every garden is going to constantly change, testing your soil at least twice a year will keep you on top of our garden and plants needs.