Organic Garden Soil Maintenance
by John Yazo
The key to success in any organic garden is the soil. Building a healthy nutrient rich soil and keeping it maintained is very important. This needs to be the top priority on your gardening list. To have a healthy and productive crop you need healthy soil.
There are two things that need to be known before you can put a plan together to maintain your gardens soil. First you will need to know what type of soil you are working with and second you will need to know what types of crops you are growing in that location.
To find out hat type of soil you have you will need to do a soil test. There are two different tests that you will need to do. The first test is to find out what the soil structure of the soil is and the second test will be to let you know the ph level and the nutrient values in the soil. These tests can be done by purchasing a soil test kit at your local garden center and preforming them yourself or you can take a soil sample to a agricultural testing lab.
Once you have the results from the soil tests you can start putting a plan together for what is needed to improve your garden soil. There are two parts to the plan that have to be thought out. A short term plan so you can start planting, which includes what types of soil amendments are needed to improve the soil structure and what nutrients are needed for the crop you are planning to plant.
Then there is the long term plan that is more involved. It includes the maintenance of the soil. This will include a three year plan that includes crop rotation. You will need to put a list together of what crops you are planning on growing. Then you will need to know what type of soil conditions and nutrients that each of these crop like. For example, if you rotate corn with beans, the beans will replenish the nutrients that corn like back into the soil. Beans are a high producer of nitrogen. Beans can also be planted as a companion plant along with corn.
Soil for organic gardening needs to be feed regularly with organic matter like compost. This is what keeps the life in the soil thriving. The use of compost tea enhances the microbes in the soil that create the nutrients that the plants need to feed from.
With a little planning you can create a healthy environment that will benefit your organic garden greatly.
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