One of the most important aspects of gardening is the soil. If you don’t have good soil, your plants won’t be healthy. Every plant needs nutrients that it will get from the soil so you have to make sure that each nutrient is in your soil to have healthy plants.

There are so many ways that one can make sure the soil has what you need, but my understanding is that sending your soil in for testing is the best way to know what amendments you are going to need. Your country health department should be able to tell you where to go to have this done. Most cities appear to have at least one place that can do these tests.

Once you get your results back, then you would add your amendments that are needed for you soil. If you are wanting to go without chemicals, there are many different things you can use in your garden to amend the soil and make sure your plants have everything they need. In our garden, we have used Epsom salts, eggs shells, lime, and DE for both amending the soil and for pest management. So far we have not used any chemicals in our garden.

This is best done before you plant anything. Otherwise, you will be like us and trying to figure out why certain plants are doing great and others are dying. The use of our compost has seemed to help a lot in this regard. However, the more you know before you start planting will help you in the long run to have healthy plants that provide much for your family.

Have a great day!

Renee