What's your worm population? Worms are very beneficial to your soil, they work their way through your soil ingesting sand, silt, clay, and organic matter and they turn it all into nutrient rich castings. The castings break up the soil, making it better for air and water drainage. If you take a look at your soil to see how many worms you've got, you can get an idea of the quality of your soil. Worms are obviously going to be found in higher number in soil that contains enough organic matter for them to eat. Here's how to "count" your worms.
•grab a shovel and dig up a square of soil about 1ft x 1ft and 7 in deep.
•spread your soil out in a spot that you are able to see the contents and break up the chucks.
•sort through the soil and gather your worms.
If you have fewer than 10 worms, your soil is not ideal, you need to work your soil and add compost and mulch. The higher your worm count, the better, you can never really have too many worms!
Now here's another thing to check, Acidic or alkaline??? You can buy kits to test your soils ph and then you can adjust it from there. You can also check to see if its acidic or alkaline with two things you have in the kitchen, vinegar and baking soda (the uses for both are endless, I will talk about that in a later post). To do this you will:
•Take dirt sample, mix with distilled water to form mud.
• Pour some vinegar over top. If fizzes its alkaline
•Mix another sample of dirt and distilled water to form mud.
•sprinkle with baking soda. If it fizzes its acidic.
•If neither produces fizz its pretty alkaline soil
You will need to look specifically at what each plant needs, in order to make the soil just right. If you keep the soil to their desired consistency and ph, they should reward you with a lot of beautiful things. I always love to hear your garden tips so please share them here!
~ Janet ✌
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