Check your soil, like you check your oil

Often times we completely overlook the underlying foundation of the physical world that surrounds and permeates us. We can’t be blamed necessarily, if we can’t actually see it, how are we supposed to be aware of it??? We can’t see the skeleton inside our bodies, we can’t see the pipes that bring water to all of us in our homes, we can’t see the physical forces that make all life possible. And yet we know they are there because we can observe what happens when something goes wrong with that hidden, unseen structure or process. Science has also given us a myriad of ways to observe the previously mysterious and enigmatic layer of nature that we were oblivious to. In the world of farming, the overlooked, yet critically important component is soil. Non-farmers see the things planted in soil; trees, grasses, flowers, vegetables, shrubs, weeds. Farmers certainly see the soil in its more naked, exposed form, structure, and color. But do they know its secrets, its character, its power, or more importantly its lack thereof? The modern, environmentally conscious way of farming demands that we know our soil like we know our own bodies.

Any one who wants to grow any type of plant should first run a chemical analysis of their soil. This is literally like an annual physical for your soil, often times after many years without going to the doctor at all. In other words, there has been no effort to improve the soil beyond the rain that falls on it, and the natural fertilizer that might be distributed there. There are two basic ways to extract a soil sample from your planting area; a shovel/spade or a soil probe. Most everyone has some kind of digging tool that can remove a few cups of soil, so no need to necessarily buy a probe. But on the other hand if you are a serious gardener or farmer, I highly recommend buying one. Most are stainless steel and will last you a lifetime. You want to get to a depth of at least 8 inches (if you are planting flowers or vegetables, if you are planting something else, like a tree or grass, then this depth will be different). At a depth of 8 inches you want to pull out a good half cup to a cup of soil that is representative of the entire layer from the top of the soil to the 8 inch depth. Remember you are trying to find the character of all the soil that your plant’s roots will be growing through. You can collect one or two types of samples; a composite or a single site (or both). The composite is where you combine soil samples from multiple places on your property. It gives sort of an average, approximate assessment of your soil. If there are particular areas that are deficient, you will see it in the composite and can generally improve the soil in those areas for the entire area. Composites are only really applicable on a small plot, no more than 1/3-1/2 an acre. Any bigger than that and I would advise to take single site samples. This is where you take individual samples from multiple sites on your property and have those tested separately. You can then amend your soil in a more targeted way, depending on those specific characteristics from the analysis. Doing both is kind of nice, because it gives you a sense of how the individual sites compare to the overall profile. However you do it, take the samples and lay them out separately on a towel or newspaper or in a tupperware, where you can spread it out, indoors. You want to dry out the sample. This should take no more than a day or two, depending on the moisture content. After they are dried put them in a gallon ziploc and label it appropriately (“composite”, “site 1”, “site 2”, whatever your naming convention is).

You need to send them off to a reputable soil analysis provider. I use Waypoint Analytical, which has labs all over the US. Because I’m in Maryland, I use the Richmond, Virginia site. You need to create an account with your soil analysis company, and then follow their process for submitting (can be a bit challenging, but should be doable with a little work). The important part is selecting the right testing. The only package you should get is called the “Mehlich 3” (or S3M). This provides you with 95% of the information you are going to need to know. In addition to S3M, you want some kind of measure of your Nitrogen content. Typically this is represented by NO3 or some ratio of NO3/NH4 (the two common forms of Nitrogen in soil is Nitrate (NO3) or Ammonium (NH4). So select that option however it’s represented, in addition to S3M. The last thing you should select is the texture. This will tell you what percentage your soil is of clay, sand, silt, or a combination of the three which is termed “loam”. S3M will tell you the pH of your soil, the organic matter (OM), the cation exchange capacity (CEC), Phosphorous (P), Potassium (K), Magnesium (Mg), and Calcium (Ca). My general guidance on some of these parameters is you want a pH of between 6.5 to 7, high organic matter (essentially compost or manure), a high CEC (which equates to a high capacity for your soil to hold nutrients like K, Mg, and Ca), and high amounts of P and K (the two other critical nutrients in addition to N, that are needed by plants in higher concentrations). The Nitrogen concentration is likely the one thing that will either be moderate or low in concentration, and will have to be supplemented, especially throughout a growing season. Even if it is high, it will be depleted throughout the season as plants pull it from the soil. Is your brain full or has it completely exploded??? And this is only a fraction of what you need to know. In terms of texture, this can be highly variable depending on where your farm is located. Our soil is rocky clay, like REALLY rocky, like I’ve pulled 50lb boulders out of my soil. The ideal is some variation of loam, because this texture holds the best qualities of all 3 soil types (sand, silt, and clay); it drains well, but still holds moisture, and can pull oxygen into it, and doesn’t compact too badly. My last piece of advice for any serious farmer is to partner with your local Agricultural Extension Office. They have specialists on-site that can help with nutrient plans and can analyze soil reports for you to come up with a plan of how to fertilize and amend over the next couple of seasons. Here is Maryland’s and Virginia’s.

There is so much more to learn about soil, but I can’t go into it all now, however I will continue to cover this in future blog posts, so stay tuned! There is a whole ecosystem thriving or NOT thriving, as the case may be, in only the first 6 inches of the soil underneath your feet. One teaspoon of healthy soil has more than a billion beneficial bacteria (say that three times fast!). Worms, fungi, microscopic insects, macroscopic insects, nematodes, rodents, it goes on and on. And they all need to be there to maintain a healthy ecosystem and thus a healthy medium for your plants to grow in. The last thing I’ll mention to you is a general philosophy that we follow at Grateful Gardeners. It all starts and ends with soil. This is the blood, the body, the brain, the immune system, and the soul of plants. If it's healthy, your plants are rock stars! If it’s unhealthy, your plants will struggle mightily. You CANNOT overlook this aspect of your farming, if anything it needs to be first thing you fix in your new plant adventure. And remember that every single flower or vegetable or plant you remove from your property and sell to someone or give away that leaves the farm and never comes back, is permanently removing nutrients from your soil. The carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and all the other micronutrients are depleted and you have to replace them just to maintain your current health status. This is why composting on-site is so crucial. It allows you to retain and return all that nutrients that are being pulled out in plant scraps, weeds, grass clippings, leaves, and overgrowth. Treat your soil like a fine automobile that you want to last forever. Check it’s health often, and make improvements constantly, it pays you back 100 fold!