Working the Soil Tests - December 22, 2019 @goldenoakfarm

This year I got my soil tests back on November 13th. I’d not even looked at them. I had not tested the Big garden as it’s an old established garden and had gotten relatively balanced. I will only test it every 3 years from now on, unless something drastic changes.

The Small garden has been where it is for 8 years and its numbers are starting to look good. But the New Herb garden still needs a lot of work. Its organic matter had sunk to 1.43%. The minimum for this area is 7%. I’ve kept it mulched the last 3 years, but the soil needed a lot of help. I’m sure the construction on 2½ of the 7 beds did not help.

So I had 2 soil tests I have to work up a specialized mix each for. Sunday morning was designated the day, mostly because the holidays have me mixed up and I kept thinking the end of the year was this Tuesday, not next week.

Added in, there was the Tonka garage door being snowed in and frozen and needing to get into it to do an amendment inventory. Monday is to be nearly 50F and Tuesday just a little colder. I needed to get out there and chip that door open while I could.

So, thinking I must have the amendment order in by Tuesday PM, I started on the mix sheets. I spent all morning on them, double checking every step. I long ago learned one misstep can have severe consequences.

Once finished I made a list of the amendments needed this year and checked off the ones I know I have enough of. Each year I add a couple of 50# bags of amendments to my stash. They are minerals so will store well if stored properly. Eventually I will just have to replace to macro nutrients each year: calciums, etc. and silicon.

Once that was done I read my Julie Andrews book until it was time to get ready to go to my friend’s lighting of her tree, the one we’d put up together.

Posts I’ve done on Soil Testing and Amendments:

In Part 1 I introduced Steve Solomon’s The Intelligent Gardener and explained how to fill out Page 1 of the Acid Soil Worksheet. Here’s the link: https://steemit.com/gardening/@goldenoakfarm/reading-a-soil-test-part-1

In Part 2 the garden was measured and the amount of amendments calculated for that space was done on Page 2 of the Worksheet. Here’s the link: https://steemit.com/gardening/@goldenoakfarm/how-to-read-a-soil-test-part-ii

In Part 3 I write about building the mix, where to find amendments and what they look like. Here’s the link: https://steemit.com/gardening/@goldenoakfarm/how-to-read-a-soil-test-part-iii-building-the-amendment-mix

How to Take a Soil Test: https://steemit.com/homesteading/@goldenoakfarm/taking-a-soil-test-december-1-2018-goldenoakfarm