Healthy Soil is Important for your Vegetable Garden
The answer to “how does your garden grow” starts with the soil, as it is the foundation of a good crop of fresh veggies. You can provide the best care in the world to your garden, giving it the proper amount of water and protecting it from the harsh elements, but if the soil doesn’t have the proper makeup, then all your efforts will be for nothing.
A Dirty Introduction
The best vegetable garden soil is a fifty/fifty split of solid materials and more porous ones which allow for plant growth, movement, air, and water to the roots. The solids you want in your soil typically consist of nonliving material like fine rocks and could also include silt, clay and sand. Living material such as decomposed plants and bugs as well as what you have in your compost pile should make up part of the solids in your vegetable garden soil.
The ideal soil for your garden to grow healthy vegetables is loam, which consists of 40% coarse sand, 20% clay (which helps retain moisture) and 40% silt. Often times, soil does not have enough organic materials to provide proper nutrients to feed the plants so organic mix should be added. If you have been creating your own compost pile from leftover vegetable peelings, grass, hay and other dying matter, your vegetable garden soil will be quite lucky to get these rich nutrients. However, you can purchase similar organic mixes through your local garden center.
It’s All About pH
The acidity-alkalinity balance in your vegetable garden soil is important as it can affect the overall taste of your cultivated vegetables. For instance, acidic soil has a pH level of 1 to 6 and can produce a tart or sour tasting vegetable, whereas alkaline soil with a pH level of 8 to 14 will produce a sweet tasting vegetable. Striking a healthy balance between the two, usually 5.5 to 7.5 pH level, is the most desirable as it will produce the best tasting vegetables no matter what you are growing.
Your vegetable garden soil should be tested at your local agricultural co-op office or a garden center, if they offer the service. Knowing the pH level means you can compensate for the lack of a certain nutrient in the vegetable garden soil by adding different fertilizers as needed in order to bring the pH to the desired level.
Once you have squared away the pH levels in your vegetable garden soil, then you are ready for the planting process. Choosing the vegetables for your garden is likely one of the hardest decisions to make so allow your taste buds to be your guide.
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