Better soil, fewer problems

After finishing the garden box and enjoying the upgrade, it was time to head to our favorite garden center for soil and plants. I really like this place because the staff is always knowledgeable, friendly and its locally owned.

Soil test results

With fresh soil test results in hand, I spoke with staff about what was best for the garden. Based on what the results stated, they recommended compost to fill the bed, calcium nitrate to provide additional nutrition for the plants and Vermiculite to absorb excess water. We were set!

Being the mathematical genius I am, I consulted on online calculator to figure out how much cubic feet of soil we’d need to fill the new and improved raised bed. I was trying to figure out how to get 36 2.0 cu ft. bags of soil in my gas efficient sedan, but luckily the garden center delivers bulk orders. Yay! No lugging around heavy bags of soil to fill the garden box like last year.

Year three is not going to have any of the problems as the nutrient lacking soil of year two.

Steve picking out vegetables

The only thing left to do was to pick out what to plant. To keep things simple, we decided to plant what we like to eat- lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, squash and three varieties of tomatoes. What can I say? We love tomatoes.

Off to a great start!

 

Waiting for Test Results Like a Maury Guest

One of the great tips I received from North Carolina Cooperative Extension at the Ideal Home Show was that I could send a soil sample from my garden off for free, wait a couple weeks and find out the results. The first thing that came to my mind was that this must be how Maury guests feel when they submit DNA to find out/confirm the identity of their baby daddy. Sending off a sample, waiting anxiously  and not knowing what exactly the results would show.

I guess the main differences are that I wouldn’t receive a free trip to New York City and there would be no dancing around in joy at the receipt of the results while someone else breaks down in tears.

Soil sample for mailing

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services provides the no-cost tests. The only thing I was required to do was pull a few samples from my garden according to their explicit directions (collecting the samples incorrectly may affect the accuracy of results) and mail off the sample. Two weeks later, magic! I would know what my soil was made of and what I needed for a successful, vibrant garden.

Find out what the results said in the next blog post.

On a side note, I would like to add that despite that I think reality television has contributed to the decline of civilization, I can’t be mad at Maury. He found his niche and went with it. I was amazed to find out he’s been on the air for 25 years. You go Maury.