Soil pH is a measure of how acidic or alkaline your soil is. The number you get when you test your soil's pH can tell you whether your plants are likely to thrive in your garden spot or not. Luckily, if the answer is no, there are ways to change your soil's pH and make your garden into a more hospitable environment for your vegetables, flowers and lawn.
Your soil is likely to be either acidic or alkaline. Some, but not most, soils have a neutral pH of 7.0. Most plants grow best in a slightly acidic soil environment, so if you test your soil's pH and you get a 6 or 6.5, you're probably in good shape. As a rule of thumb, many soils in the Northeastern and Southeastern United States are naturally acidic. Many soils in the Midwestern and Western United States are naturally alkaline. These differences are due to the different parent materials (rocks, minerals, etc.) in these soils.
You can test your soil's pH yourself by using pH test strips, or you can box up a sample of your garden soil and send it to your state's soil-testing lab. These tests are usually free or very low cost and will tell you a lot about your soil, including whether or not you need to add more nutrients to it in the form of compost, organic fertilizers or other soil amendments.
Soils with a pH below 5.5 or 6 can often benefit from having limestone (lime), oyster shells or other calcium-rich materials added to them. If you have your soil tested at your state's testing lab, they will provide you with a recommendation for how much lime you need to add to your garden in order to optimize your soil pH.
Soils with a pH above 7.0 are alkaline. Most crops have as difficult a time growing in alkaline soils as they do in acidic soils. If you have alkaline soil, consider adding sulfur to it in order to lower your pH. Again, you will need to make sure to follow the recommendations from your soil test in order to know how much sulfur to add. Don't overdo it, or you'll turn the soil acidic.
Ifyou don't want to add lime or sulfur to your soil, you can still grow a garden unless your soil is extremely alkaline or acidic. Some crops, such as potatoes, sorrel and blueberries, thrive in acidic soils. If your soil has a pH of 5.0 and you don't want to lime it but do want to enjoy growing some of your own food, try growing beets, lettuce, asparagus, spinach and broccoli.
If you want to grow a variety of crops in your organic vegetable garden, you'll have to make sure that its pH is in a range that is suitable for most plants. A pH around 6.0 should suit almost any plant, except for blueberries and other acid-loving plants. At this pH, the nutrients in your soil will be highly available to your crops, which will help them grow better. Keeping your pH in this desirable range may require some management on your part, mostly in the form of annual soil testing and amending, if necessary, but it will be worth it.
 | Plants make their own food, but they sometimes need a helping had from fertilizer. By conducting a soil test and knowing how to read a fertilizer bag, you'll be able to make choices that benefit your plants instead of harming them. |
 | The types of soil in your garden are a key element in whether it succeeds or fails. |
 | |&&|Sandy soil quickly loses water and nutrients. Learn which plants will thrive in these challenging conditions. |
In order to grow successfully, your plants need good soil. This includes the right drainage, pH balance, and conditions. Without good soil, valuable time and investment will probably be lost. Since most soils need some amount of improvement, here are some things you can do to help them along. |
Soil texture plays an important role in the success of your garden. Learn what you can do to identify your garden soil texture. |
