Dirt and Poop

I promised Doug I wouldn't swear (on the podcast as well as on my blog), however if you listened to this weeks show, you most likely noticed that I was bleeped out once. All I can think of when I say or write "poop" is a scene from Billy Madison...if you've seen it you know the line: "He called the S#*t Poop!"

Anyways, I promised to add some pre-planting information on soil preparation to the blog. As I said, step one is definitely to test your soil. I was in Agway (which is a garden supply store) today and they had test kits ranging in price from $4.99 to $24.99. While there I purchased this years supply of garden soil and composting cow manure. (Stay away from the chicken compost/manure...I've heard it is too acidic.)

Once you test your soil, that will determine your need for amendments. Following is a list of soil amendments and their affect on your dirt. Remember, you are looking for a pH range from 6 to 7.5.

• Compost - slowly lowers pH of alkaline soil and raises pH of acidic soils and supplies plant nutrients. (You really can't go wrong composting and I am a firm believer that you should ALWAYS mix compost/cow manure in your garden beds.) Also, if you would like an easy way to live a little "greener" make your own compost pile/bin and compost your waste. You can help the environment and your garden at the same time.
• Bonemeal - Raises pH and is an excellent source of phosphorus.
• Sulfur - Lowers pH of alkaline soil.
• Wood ashes - Raises pH and contributes many nutrients.
• Limestone (Dolomite or Calcitic) - Raises pH of soil. Dolomite will add magnesium, calcitic will not.
  
• Phosphate - Slowly raises pH. Excellent source of phosphorous and other nutrients

By the way...All of these can be bought at a garden supply store and you should simply follow the instructions on the bag! If you are adding amendments to the soil, the best time to do it is in the fall. That gives sufficient time for them to break down. The reason why we are so worried about the soil is that the direct effect of poor soil will be a poor yield. Hops vines are cool, but really, we're not growing these things for aesthetics, we need the cones for our beer!