Know your soil’s pH

The pH (acidity level) of your soil has a large part to do with how well your plants grow. pH is tested on a scale of zero to fourteen, with zero being very acidic and fourteen being very alkaline. Most plants grow best in soil with a fairly neutral pH, between six and seven.

Soil PH Guide

Those crazy kids over at The Little Veggie Patch Co made a sweet little video about testing soil pH – we’re pretty sure they wouldn’t mind us showing it to you!

Every home and garden center carries pH test kits. These kits are fairly accurate, but you must make sure you follow the testing instructions precisely. Once you know whether your soil pH is a problem or not, you can begin working to correct the problem.

A typical Soil PH kit

How to check your PH with a testing kit

• Take soil from a number of locations around the garden.
• Remove larger particles and place about 1 teaspoon of the soil onto the white testing kit plate.
• Create a well in the centre of the pile, add a few drops of the indicator dye and mix it through.
• Sprinkle the powder supplied onto the pile and wait for about 30 seconds. Compare the colour with that in the test kit to determine what your pH is.

Of course, you don’t necessarily need a testing kit – many say you can make your own. But if want to be sure (and don’t want to stuff around), get the pH kit 😉