It’s All About Nutrition!

Testing Soil Texture and Soil Structure of

your Organic Garden

Soil texture and soil structure are two of the main areas of concern when testing the soil of your organic garden. Soil testing by hand will help you decide whether you have sandy loam, medium loam or heavy loam. The basic soil texture of is not easy to change but knowing it’s make up will give you some real good information on how to make the best use of what you have. A general guideline is that heavy soils will hold onto nutrients better but will also retain water during wet seasons. Lighter soils tend to need more feeding, are well drained and will heat up quickly in spring. Both of these extremes will benefit from the addition of well rotted organic compost.

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Tags: Compost, Garden Soil, Organic Compost, Organic Garden, Organic Soil, Soil Structure, Soil Testing, Soil Texture

Planting and Growing Potatoes Vertically

Speaking about gardening contraptions…get a load of this one! A vertical planter for our potatoes…usually potatoes are grown on the ground in rows but due to lack of space because we have so many other plants to grow, my husband decided to grow potatoes vertically.

He used 10 feet of heavy gauge galvanized fencing which created a cylindrical fence that is 3 feet high by 3 feet wide. Enough evenly spaced holes (3 inches by 3 inches) were cut into the fence to accommodate 5 pounds of seed potatoes leaving four pieces for the top.

The inside of the cylinder was lined with newspaper and filled with a combination of organic compost, straw, rotted leaves, and good draining soil. The newspaper was cut where the holes are and the seed potatoes were pushed in with the eyes facing outwards. I will keep you posted on our progress.

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Tags: Gardening, Growing Potatoes, Home and Garden, Organic Compost, Planting Potatoes, Seed Potatoes