It's a long time since I did a pH test on the soil at the plot so I ordered up some fresh tablets from the net. I took four soil samples from around the plot. The good news is that green is in evidence. I would say these readings correspond with the slight acid to neutral guide colours. Wouldn't you?
Guess what the pH kit came with 3 more test kits - for NPK Nitrogen Phosphorous and Potassium the three main groups of nutrients required by plants.
Now here's the results for a soil sample taken from last years sweetcorn patch (this year's carrot patch) P looks OK, K a bit dodgy and N "depleted". The story was the same in the soft fruit area and the old allium patch (this years spuds). Boy I need some nitrogen and quick.
The good news were that these areas have had no supplements this year whereas the Brassica patch (last years "others") has been treated with fertiliser (calcified seaweed and Fish Blood and Bone) and came up trumps on the nitrogen front, (as well as the P and K)
Looking at these I can get away without lime this year but I'm going to need some high Nitrogen addition to my depleted soil. Chicken Manure springs to mind.
Must admit that we have never tested our soil.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your subjective judgement is spot on Sue, but I do find it reassuring to have objective measures to base my decisions about modifying the soil at least once in a while. (Having said that I find the tests open to a small degree of interpretation.) There's always the organic rule to fall back on: every type of soil benefits from plenty of well rotted manure!
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