I went out to the new beds today fearing for the worst regarding the soil quality out here.  With all of the work involved building the farm’s infrastructure there hasn’t been a lot of time to get soil amended and ready for planting.  My self-imposed deadline was to have the garden planted this spring and I have been feeling pressed pretty hard to get that done.  My worry, because of how hard the water is here, would be that the soil would be too alkaline and that I would need to bring in sulphur to help make it more acidic.  My PH tester came this past week, so just like going to the doctor for tests not really wanting to know if anything is wrong, out we went.

Finally!  A positive surprise!!  My choice to use the old horse corral worked!  It is indeed the most fertile and  best soil on the farm.  The meter, when first stuck in the ground pegs WAY to the alkaline side of the scale (the green).  Exactly what one doesn’t want to see.  I stayed patient and stuck to the directions that said it would stabilize to a true reading in 2 to 3 minutes.  On all six sampled sites, the soil was a PERFECT 6.6!!!  Woohoo!!  Thank you horse crap!

We won’t need to do an awful lot to the soil so that gets me back on track.  After the windbreaks are built, the tiller comes out and the drippers get installed, then it is almost time to plant!  Thank goodness because the tomatoes in the grow room are already over a foot tall!