3 Keys to Great Garden Soil!

Earliest stages of baby beans! Yeah!

What Makes For a Great Soil??  Below are 3 key factors in assuring the best gardening soil around!

#1:  A great garden must have the right pH which is between 5.5 and 8.0.  The pH in soil runs from 0 to 14.  Soil below 6 has a lot of acidic properties.  Soil above 7.5 is high in alkaline.  Ground limestone will help a soil be less acidic while adding sulfur to your soil will make it more acidic.

My little elevated garden of beans, watermelon and cucumbers loves a soil in the pH range of 6 to 6.8.

#2:  Great soil needs organic material... like cow or horse manure, mixed well into the earth.  I have always used 1 part manure to 1 to 1 1/2 soil ratio.  (Too much manure will burn your plants the first year!)  Compost is an excellent source of organic material - but one must be careful how strong the compost is... mix it well with your present dirt before planting.

#3:  Nutrients!  Out of the 16 nutrients a plant needs the ground to have - the most important are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen which are the most important nutrient factors in photosynthesis!

Ok... so I cheated some.  I went for the best soil and filled up my pots with Scotts Garden Soil and Miracle Grow Gardening Soil.  Even though they are made by the same company in Ohio, I preferred the Scotts.  Not sure why technically, it could have been the seed... but my beans look beautiful!

Please check out my Youtube channel and watch my garden grow! 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGllYx7oyQjTylVq9hSp55Q