Homeowners are encouraged to test their soils ...

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Growing a garden full of plants and flowers is a joy . You take care of them, monitor them and get to see them blossom into their edible pleasure.

Sometimes though growing can be difficult. One of the first things to look at should be how acid or alkaline your garden is by using a soil pH meter.

Why Test Your Soil pH?

The health of your plants is very dependent on the pH balance of the earth in which they are planted. It is correct that most plants prefer a neutral pH (which is around 7) but others, such as blueberries thrive in more acidic soil. Carefully monitoring the pH of the soil is helpful because:

  • It can help you decide what to plant in your garden
  • Or whether or not you need to adjust the pH of your soil to grow what you want
  • Certain plant diseases thrive in at different pH levels
  • The pH level affects the availability of nutrients to your plants

What Can You Do If Soil pH Is Not What You Want?

There are some simple fixes that a gardener of any experience can do. If you find that you soil is too acid, you can add lime to your soil to increase the pH, or use wood ash from your log burner (also known as potash fertilizer). If you find that your soil is too alkaline, compost of manure can be used to bring the pH in line.

Remember though that changing the pH of your soil is a process that will take time. It is advisable to test and align the acidity of your soil either in the fall or early spring.

Though it may seem like such a trivial thing, you could find that just by simply testing your garden using soil pH test kits and making adjustments, that your flower blooms become bigger and more colorful and that the vegetables of your garden also become larger and tastier.

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