Video - How to Test Your Soil's pH Level

In this short video, Patti the Garden Girl demonstrates how to use a simple soil test kit to test the pH levels in your garden soil. pH is an important factor in creating a healthy soil that will grow healthy plants. The Soil Stick kit is super easy to use and contains everything you need to do a proper test, including tips on how to change the pH balance of your soil to a more desirable level, and a handy chart of common plants that grow best at different pH levels.

How to Test Your Garden Soil's pH Level
In this video, Patti Moreno, the Garden GIrl shows you how to test the pH level of your garden soil using a Soil Stick. To purchase a Soil Stick see link below. For more gardening tips go to http and www.urbansustainableliving.com


Soil Stick Test Kits:
  

Understanding Soil - Part 2: Testing the pH of Your Soil

We talked a bit last week about creating balanced soil for optimum growth of your garden, and one of the most important things to keep in balance is your soil's pH. It's easy to test the pH of the soil in your garden with the use of a simple and inexpensive test kit.

All you need to do with the test kit is take a sample of the soil and mix it with water and then compare the results in the sample to the colors on the chart. This will tell you whether the soil is acidic or alkaline.

Homeowners are encouraged to test their soils for nutrient needs, and to apply only what nutrients are needed for a healthy lawn and garden. Farmers practice the same testing procedure. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If the soil is too acidic you can add lime to bring it back into balance. If on the other hand there is too much lime and the pH reading is high you can add more compost to reduce the levels of the lime in the soil.

Soil that is slightly acidic tends to be more fertile.

Before the use of such test kits, home gardeners used to use a simple taste test to determine the condition of the soil. This method isn't recommended but it can be quite accurate.

If the soil tastes sour then it is likely to be acid. This is also represented by a sour smell.

Vinegar is another way to test whether there is enough lime in the soil, as lime will cause the vinegar to bubble.

Drop some soil into a cup of vinegar and if it starts to bubble then you know there is enough lime in the soil.

But for the low cost of a pH tester, you will get a lot more accurate reading and this will allow you to easily monitor the condition of your soils and adjust the nutrients accordingly rather than guessing what is needed and not having optimum nutrition.

You should also take samples at different points throughout your garden, as there can be changes in the soil from one area to the next depending on what has been added over the years and what has been growing in the various sections of the garden.

Balancing your soil's pH properly will help you achieve optimum results in the growth and health of your garden.

Be sure to check back next week when we'll discuss a few more ideas for creating healthy, balanced garden soil.


Soil pH Test Kits:
   

Video - Creating A Perfect Soil Mix

This short video briefly discusses the soil types graphic we included in Tuesday's post, and demonstrates the creation of an excellent soil mix based on his favorite ratio of ingredients. This would make a great potting soil, and can also be used as garden soil in a new garden space, or as layers in a lasagna garden.

Different Soil Types
Nick Federoff explains the different types of soil, Sand, Silt, and Clay. He talks about his ideal soil mixture and what happens when you mix the different kinds of soil. For more videos and information you can visit Nick online at www.ThingsGreen.TV

Understanding Your Soil - Part 1

As the days get longer, and we start to see the first signs of spring peeking through the snow, our thoughts begin to turn to not just planning, but planting! So for the next few weeks, we're going to talk about one of the most important aspects of garden planning - the foundation of your garden - the soil.

Understanding the role that soil plays in the garden is one of the best assets that you can have as a gardener. It is this knowledge that will allow you to create a healthier environment for your plants and get the maximum benefits from them.

In doing so, you will also make your own life easier, as a garden that is well managed from the soil up, is a garden that is a lot easier to manage from one day to the next.

 Soil types by clay, silt and sand composition. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A garden that has good soil that has been fed with good nutrition over time will make growing just about anything easy for even the least experienced gardener. (And those working with poor soil will tend to struggle, even if you've been gardening for years.)

So how do you get good soil?

First you need to consider how plants grow and how they get their nutrition and that is through their roots. Therefore, in order for the plants to grow well, they need to be in soil that allows their roots to get to the nutrition.

Obviously very compact ground with little water, little air and poor nutrition will not produce the best plants. Plants need water and air and this requires soil that has spaces to hold this air and water. Therefore soil that is properly aerated will generally produce a better garden.

But once again (as all things with gardening) it is all about balance, as soil that is too crumbly might not hold the nutrients as well, so the water might wash them away. The soil also needs to be firm enough to support the growth of the plant - otherwise it will topple over at the first sign of a wind.

The soil needs to have suitable nutrients and if any of these nutrients are out of balance, a pH scale that measures whether the soil is acidic or alkaline will show why plants are having difficulty absorbing the nutrients.

Be sure to check back next week when we'll discuss soil pH in further detail.

Video - DIY High Tunnel Greenhouse Part 1 - Laying the Base

This short video shows the start of building a greenhouse - you can make it more eco-friendly by choosing durable materials which will last and need replacing less often, as well as providing good insulation so that you won't need to add heat. Many greenhouses are quite successful year round even in the coldest parts of the country - floating row cover can be placed over the plants at night if extra protection is needed. This minimizes energy consumption, and still allows you to garden year-round as long as you stick to hardy plants that do well in your region.

This video shows laying the base, and you can find links to the other 3 parts below:

How to feed your family DIY GREENHOUSE PART 1 of 4 Hydroponic Garden
This of building our hydroponic green house. We have just been fed up with the quality of food available and decided ours would be the best. We know what we put into it and how much healthier it is. We will be updating the site as soon as possible. I...


Part 2: PVC Support Hoops
Part 3: Covering the Greenhouse
Part 4: Screening the Sides & Ends

How Green Is Your Greenhouse?

For years, many people have trusted greenhouses as a great way to grow quality healthy fruits and vegetables all year round.  And recently, growing your own sustainable and organic gardens has become more and more popular.  So it comes as no surprise that many people are now building eco-friendly greenhouses to help grow great produce in a more environmentally friendly manner.

Greenhouse Plants (Photo credit: azmichelle)

While many people don’t think about it, growing your own vegetables is a great way to reduce your energy consumption.  Your food doesn’t magically appear at the grocery store; it has to be shipped there, usually by truck, and sometimes from very far away.  And that can take a lot of energy, which you save by growing your own food at home.  So why waste all the good you’re doing by using tons of energy in your greenhouse?  It’s not only bad for the environment, it also costs you more in utility bills.

If you use a heated greenhouse, you can invest in lower energy light bulbs and increased insulation in the winter.  Even adding a layer of bubble wrap at night can cut down your energy by letting the heat in during the day and sealing it in at night. If you follow Eliot Coleman's method of unheated greenhouses, you don't have that expense, and you can use floating row covers inside the greenhouse to provide extra protection for the plants without heating. In some greenhouses, saving energy is as easy as opening the vents during the hot part of the day, and closing them during night-time cooling.

Another great way to make any garden more eco-friendly is to reduce your use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.  While a greenhouse can protect your plants, you still may have pest or disease issues. But if you're an organic gardener, you'll want to protect your family from these potentially harmful substances by using natural means of dealing with garden problems. (See http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html for some helpful tips and resources.)

Did you know that certain areas of the United States will run out of fresh usable water before there’s ever a noticeable effect of global climate change?  That’s because certain areas are using water at an alarming rate, which is why it’s a great idea to cut back water usage in your eco-greenhouse.

Rain barrel (Photo credit: roger_mommaerts)

Because they don’t get rain water, greenhouse plants need to be watered, but what water you use makes a difference.  The easiest solution is simply to collect rainwater and use that to water the plants.  A simple gutter system can be rigged that runs right to where you need it, and rain barrels are now readily available and fairly inexpensive.  You can also manually apply collected rainwater to the plants, or rig a rump system.  Just remember that pumps are not only expensive, they’re going to use energy as well. (Also remember that plants will need less water in the winter when the ground is cold - so don't overwater - it's not only wasteful but bad for the plants!)

Another great water solution is to reuse grey water from other areas of your house.  Water leftover from baths, boiling food, or even water that runs when you’re waiting for the sink water to warm up can be collected and used for watering plants.  Just remember to pay attention to what chemicals may be in your leftover water.

Making small adjustments to your greenhouse can actually make it a lot greener, and provide you with even safer and healthier food.

Review: GrowVeg Garden Planner Software

This cool software from GrowVeg.com makes it easy and fun to draw up a plan for your garden, design the layout, decide on what plants you want and where, figure out how much space they need, and much more.

It makes crop rotation and succession plantings a snap, with built in information on what family each plant is in, how much growing space they need, what goes well together for companion plantings, and more. Want to change something? It's easy to move crops, resize beds, and make other changes with just the click of a mouse!

While you can certainly plan out your garden on paper, using this great software makes it a lot easier to modify designs and ideas later, save a record of your garden plan for later years, and have a great visual depiction that makes it easy to see where everything is planted. Plus it's just lots of fun to use!

Solve your growing problems and maximize your harvest from your available space with this helpful and easy to use software. Just click the banner below to learn more.

Using An Organic Vegetable Garden Planner

As we touched on briefly last week, It's a great idea to use a vegetable garden planner before you go ahead with planting. Many people allow their garden to grow in a very random manner, just putting plants wherever there is a little bit of space without thinking about how the finished garden will look. Sometimes this works out well but more often, it is a mess.

The first thing that you should do when you are working with a vegetable garden planner is to think about the site that you have. Ideally, your vegetable plot will be in a place that receives natural sunlight. It doesn't have to get the sun all day, but a completely shaded, north-facing area is not the best place for your vegetables. In fact you will find it difficult to make anything grow in an area that gets no sun at all.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Planting close to the house is a good idea. Many people put their vegetable garden away out of sight because they do not consider vegetables to be as attractive as flowers. This is understandable, but it is important that you can see your growing crops, otherwise you are much more likely to forget about them - and you can really get a lot of enjoyment out of surveying your growing crops. Some people believe that plants benefit from being noticed, cared about and talked to, and if this is true, then they need to be visited often!

There are a couple of things that you can do to keep your vegetables close to the house while having an attractive view from your windows. One is that you put the vegetable garden near to a door, but not right under the windows of your main rooms. Maybe you could look out onto it from the kitchen window, for example.

Another possibility is to plant flowers in among your food plants. This is a great idea anyway, since it brightens up the area that you will be working on. And some flowering plants, like marigolds, are often placed among vegetable crops in an organic garden because they have the advantage of repelling pests.

An organic vegetable garden planner will often recommend that you protect your plot with a rabbit proof fence. This is important if your garden is accessible to rabbits, foxes, dogs or other animals that might either eat your plants or dig in your beds.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you have prepared the site for your organic vegetable garden, it is time to think about what to plant. You will want a variety of crops, not too much of the same thing. The main question is what you like to eat, but it is also important to make sure that you will have a constant harvest through the year. If everything that you plant is going to be ready in August or September, and nothing the rest of the year, you have not used your vegetable garden planner very well!

On the other hand, when you have decided on plants that can be harvested in a certain season, it's a good idea to put them together. That way, when the season is over, you can clear a whole area and prepare it for another planting. If your plants are all mixed together, it will be more difficult to do this.

And don't forget to rotate your crops, as we discussed last week. This helps to stop pests and disease from establishing themselves, and circulates nutrients in the soil. Again, this is easier if you have used a vegetable garden planner to have all plants in a certain area produce their harvest at the same time.


Vegetable Garden Planners: