Let's see those '10 gardens

06-22-2010, 08:56 PM

Hey Scott, I think you misunderstand. I bought 11 yards of commercial garden soil. It is sterile and well composted. It was made from those ingredients but resembles none of them. It looks just like the potting soil you get in bags. The stuff in the worm castings is just a handful mixed in when they were planted. I can see a difference there, though. So far I didn't feed anything when I planted except those few plants. I have to dig out my ph meter and do a test. Around here lime is usually oyster shells.

06-22-2010, 09:29 PM

OK, I got out my fish tank electronic ph meter and checked it on a 8 ph cal pack and it was 8.04. My unsoftened tap water came back 7.78. I have a reverse osmosis/deionizer for fish tank water. It measures 6.74, slightly acid. This is right for very pure water. I used the RO/DI water to soak a big handful of the unused garden soil for about 15 min. It measured 7.75. Slightly base. I just checked it again and it's 7.67.
Somewhere I have a soil test kit for NPK. I should get a new one though, that one is, like, 15 years old or more. Waddaya think, Scott?

06-22-2010, 08:56 PM	#1
BC-Axeman Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Let's see those '10 gardens Hey Scott, I think you misunderstand. I bought 11 yards of commercial garden soil. It is sterile and well composted. It was made from those ingredients but resembles none of them. It looks just like the potting soil you get in bags. The stuff in the worm castings is just a handful mixed in when they were planted. I can see a difference there, though. So far I didn't feed anything when I planted except those few plants. I have to dig out my ph meter and do a test. Around here lime is usually oyster shells.

06-22-2010, 09:29 PM	#2
BC-Axeman Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Let's see those '10 gardens OK, I got out my fish tank electronic ph meter and checked it on a 8 ph cal pack and it was 8.04. My unsoftened tap water came back 7.78. I have a reverse osmosis/deionizer for fish tank water. It measures 6.74, slightly acid. This is right for very pure water. I used the RO/DI water to soak a big handful of the unused garden soil for about 15 min. It measured 7.75. Slightly base. I just checked it again and it's 7.67. Somewhere I have a soil test kit for NPK. I should get a new one though, that one is, like, 15 years old or more. Waddaya think, Scott?