Soil Tests - Part 2 - G.C.G.C

Tonight at the G.C.G.C meeting (Greater Columbus Growing Coalition) Dr. Darrah from the CLC labs went over how to interpret a soil test. Our group had soil tests done on the Epworth Veggie Garden, Northwold city lot and Christian Assembly Garden. One of the interesting things I learned this evening was the fact that our soils has high amounts of Ca and very log Manganese. The soil at Epworth looks really good. We'll just add some nitrogen at the beginning of the season. Right now we are probably looking at some type of organic product like bloodmeal. The Christian Assembly Garden and Northwold lot will need some phosphorus. We will probably use bonemeal as the phosphorus source. One of the most interesting things I heard Dr. Darrah mention was not to worry about the pH levels of our soils unless we were growing potatoes or blueberries. We are still waiting the lead test on the soil at Northwold. Once we know this value we will decide if we will
plant directly in the soil or perhaps switch it up and build some raised beds. Either method is going to require a significant amount of soil and compost.