It’s a DIRTY Business How to prepare your soil to guarantee your garden’s success BY CARI SCRIBNER
T
he time has come at last to roll up your sleeves and get out the trowel to herald spring with the season’s greatest gift: a bountiful garden. Whether you’re planting butter leaf lettuce or fragrant begonias, nurturing plants from seeds or buying sprouted seedlings from the plant nursery, a flourishing garden takes more than water and sunlight. It also takes what lies beneath: hearty soil rich in nutrients with the right PH level. To help you get your garden off on the right foot, we’ve unearthed the top six tips for preparing your soil for successful planting.
Spring 2021
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Find a new spot to plant. “Using the same area for gardening depletes some of the nutrients in the soil,” said Jacklyn Older, manager at Hewitt’s Garden Center in Saratoga Springs. Have your soil tested (see sidebar). Plants need around 20 nutrients for healthy growth, said Susan Beebe, assistant director of agriculture at Saratoga County Cornell Cooperative Extension in Ballston Spa. These range from potassium to calcium to sulfur.
Understand the importance of soil pH. This is a measurement of the alkalinity or acidity of soil.. Soil pH is measured on a scale of 1 to 14, with 6.5 to 7 as the sweet spot. Acid soils have a pH below 7 and alkaline soils are above 7. If your pH levels
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