Spencer and I both tested our soil with My Soil’s Soil Test Kit. In this podcast episode we are going over our results, chatting about our action plans, and giving you tips for building your own soil.
If you would like to test your soil too, use the link in the show notes for 10% off your MADE IN AMERICA, easy to use kit.
I highly recommend building your soil’s health before fertilizing through natural approaches like EM-1 Soil Microbes!
https://www.teraganix.com/?ref=OrganicTX
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At the end of my soil testing experience, I was able to receive recommendations for fertilizing including product recommendations. Although I loved the recommendations and agreed with the organic approach and selections, I should mention that this soil test could not provide data about my soil’s health, and a recommendation to improve soil health was not able to be made which is honestly true for most residential soil tests. However, based on the poor nutrient density and the visible lack of quality of the soil (pale in color, nothing alive in the soil, etc), and my experience, I know a lot of work needs to be done to repair the soil health before I consider fertilizing and planting food in this area. I can grow a plant, but I can’t grow a healthy plant or nutrient dense food easily here.
My recommendation to myself would be to use EM-1 microbes, compost, and other soil building options mentioned at the end of the podcast episode to correctly repair the soil health and resolve drainage issues (the clay is dense and compact and contains no living things) through amendments before moving forward with My Soil’s fertilizing recommendations. I like to do this type of work “off season,” in late fall through winter along with most of my other garden chores. So, for now, due to time constraints, I will not be moving forward to expand my garden into this area. Once I have the time, then I will calculate the costs to expanding and make another educated decision as to whether the expansion makes fiscal sense or is still needed.
So, all-in-all, this soil test was an incredible investment so that I could make an intelligent decision. Saying “no” to my own ideas is not something I do often, but now I have all the evidence I need to pause this idea before it becomes a bad idea. Additionally, although other areas of my 2-acres deserve their own soil test, this tested location is probably similar to many other areas that have shown poor performance and will prevent me from making planting mistakes without a soil test in other areas as well.
If you would like to test your soil too, use the link in the show notes for 10% off your MADE IN AMERICA, easy to use kit. To review Spencer’s results (my co-host on the podcast), you can find her at https://thefarmandthetable.co/