Test your garden by putting dirt in a jar
We frequently advise gardeners, whether they're interested in vegetables, ornamentals, or turf grasses, to have their soil tested at least once every three years (more often if they suspect a problem).
You can get a $9 Penn State soil test kit from your local Extension office, or at many lawn and garden centers.
Follow the included instructions to submit a soil sample to Penn State, where it will be evaluated for pH (the acidity or alkalinity) and key nutrients.
The results will include specific instructions for optimizing your growing medium.
The staff and Master Gardeners at the local Extension office will gladly assist you in interpreting the results if needed.
While the Penn State analysis looks at the nutrient quality of your soil, many gardeners also are interested in learning the structure of their soil, or their soil tilth.
Structure is based on the physical composition of your soil and depends on the percentages of sand, silt and clay it contains. The more clay you have, the more moisture the soil will retain, while more sand means quick drainage.
Ideally, you want soil that is balanced in these three components, a soil condition referred to as loam.
Testing your soil structure is easy.
Start with a quart jar and its lid, and add soil to halfway fill the jar. Add enough water to make a soft mud, and thump the jar on a surface to settle the soil and eliminate air pockets.
Use a permanent marker to draw a line on the outside of the jar at the top of the soil surface. This line indicates your original soil volume.
Now, fill the jar to the top with water, close it tightly, and shake it until the soil mix is completely blended.
Allow the jar to sit for one minute, at which point you should see some material settled to the bottom. This is the sand and gravel in the soil. Draw a line at the top of that first sediment layer.
Now wait six hours for the silt to sediment out, and mark the level again.
The remaining distance to the original line is made up of clay and organic material which will take much longer to settle out of the solution.
For a simple analysis, if your sand layer makes up more than 85 percent of the original soil volume, you have a sandy soil mix.
If the sand and silt combined make up less than 60 percent of the original volume, you have clay based soil.
The ideal soil should have half of the original volume as sand, and the sand and silt line should be at three-quarters of the original soil volume. This ideal is loam which is the best mix for moisture retention, drainage, and oxygen retention.If your soil is not ideal, don't be dismayed. Correcting soil tilth is as easy as adding more organic material.If your soil pH is over 7.0 according to the Penn State soil test, add peat moss as the organic supplement.If your pH is 7.0 or lower, it is best to add compost, top dressing your garden with one to two inches and allowing earthworms to mix it into the soil.Since the optimum amount of organic material in garden soil is between 10 and 15 percent, it is nearly impossible to add too much organic material.With a bit of time and perseverance, and regular soil testing, you can have an excellent base for your garden.If you have questions about improving your soil call the Master Greenline at 724-287-4761, ext. 229.
