#1 Getting Started

If you've caught spring fever and are about to embark on a mad gardening session this weekend, put on the brakes and start with the soil first.  Many beginning gardeners make the mistake of installing expensive plant material only to find an unhappy plant that refuses to grow a few months later.

The first step to managing your soil is finding out what it is! You'll want to find out the following 3 elements about your soil:

1.  Soil Structure - Relative portions of Sand, Silt & Clay.
2.  Soil pH - A numerical designation of acidity and alkalinity.
3.  Soil Nutrition - A ratio derived from plant or soil analysis when comparing the level of one element to another.

I have created sequential pages on this blog that will tell you how to identify the above elements.  You  will find options to test your soil for the elements above OR you can skip the testing and make an assumption based on your location (for those a little less enthused).

OR...

If neither of the above options sound appealing to you, but you want to improve your soil, JUST ADD ORGANIC MATTER! Yes, it almost that simple.