NOTE: If for some reason you can't order a soil test right now then don't worry - we'll be sharing with you some simple ways you can improve your soil even without one. Otherwise to get the very MOST out of your garden we highly encourage starting with one.
Digging Deeper
Learn more about the soil:
Soil Formation and Structure
Organic Matter and Chemical Balances
The Life in the Soil
Learn more about soil testing:
All About Testing Your Soil - this lesson has some really fun simple tests you can do from home to learn more about the structure of your soil
51 Comments
Teresa Graham
April 1, 2018I went to the community garden box and noticed it’s made of wood. Now I have to find out what type of wood was used.
Paul
April 4, 2018Good going Teresa – yes check to see if it is treated or not. If it is natural you should be all set to go! Cedar wood is the best as it doesn’t rot as quickly.
Bruce gall
April 12, 2018I made my bed out of 6ft cedar pickets
4x2x4ft ht great
Cate Hand
December 7, 2022The link that is supposed to take us to the soil tests instead takes us to a general page. I did a search for soil test and got a list of 36 options. Help! I need to test raised beds.
Carrie Jensen
February 6, 2023I’m in Texas – so I used the university testing lab it was $15 per sample. Also – contact your local Agri Extension office for local gardening tips and plant guides.
Daisy
April 6, 2018seems my back yard is mostly sand but does have a oak tree growinge in it with some grass and weeks,did buy some organic soil and top soil which I put in large pots for a citrus tree, doen’t look too happy though, leaves only, no blossoms
testing my sand seems kinda like a waste of time, what should I do?
Paul
April 10, 2018Great question Daisy!
I’d start by seeking to add good amounts of organic matter to your garden soil. Look into getting large quantities of compost, worm castings, and peat moss. Adding that to your sand will give it more body, help it hold nutrients and water better, and improve the structure of your soil. Then for now you may want to simply start out with using this all purpose fertilizer mix: http://store.borntogrow.net/down-to-earth-all-natural-vegan-mix-3-2-2-fertilizer-25-lb-03225/
Once you’ve built up your soil a little I’d go for doing a soil test. Keep up the good work. You’re on the right track!
Trina
April 18, 2018I have roughly a 20’x20′ garden directly in the ground and five raised beds that are at least 4’x10′. The raised beds we bought a garden mix (compost, sand, and topsoil) from a local nursery to fill the boxes. Should I just get a soil sample straight from the 20’x20′ garden? I cannot afford to send samples from all raised beds.
Paul
May 3, 2018Hi Trina – absolutely! That’s exactly what I’d suggest you do. Then I’d use the Vegan Down to Earth Fertilizer as a balanced natural fertilizer in your raised beds. 🙂
Marjorie
May 9, 2018I’m going with containers for the moment. I’m going to buy organic something, I’ll see when I get there and then order the dte fertilizer. What should I know before I fill these containers. Thanks.
Paul
May 31, 2018Hey Marjorie! Wow, so sorry for the delay in getting back with you. Somehow we missed the notification of your comment. And great question. The main thing I would look for is a peat moss based soil mix. Don’t use a soil mix that looks like half decomposed bark chips. Find one that has a peat moss base with compost and perlite (the little white flecks) in it and that’s what I would use. Then add the fertilizer to that. That’s what we use in our container garden and it works well.
Janet
May 18, 2018I know my soil is sandy loam. I’m looking forward to finding out more details about it and doing a bug count.
Paul
September 17, 2018You bet Janet! 🙂
sharon powell
September 13, 2018Hi Paul,
I’m starting from scratch. We’ll be building raised beds and filling them with ??? What would suggest that I use to fill them? Would the mixture still need to be tested?
Paul
September 17, 2018Hi Sharon! Welcome to our gardening family. 😀
Great question on your raised beds. We have a great little video on building raised beds here: http://borntogrow.net/master-classes/launch/preparing-your-garden-beds/
And about what to fill them with. We suggest using the little formula or “recipe” listed here: https://raisedbeds.com/garden-bed-soil-calculator/
Then I would use Down to Earth Vegan Mix as a great nutrient base for your raised bed. Ideally it would still be good to get a soil test for the bed. Of course you could start out without one and see how it goes but the ideal would be to get one just to try and get your soil to the most optimum health and nutrition status to begin with.
Hope this helps!
Brownie Connor
February 15, 2019We live in an area with very limited space and strict rules. I read something about garden boxes and wonder if they are as good as advertised? I plan to fill it with the peat moss and perlite like you recommended for Marjorie Is that the best way to proceed or will the clay pot containers be enough?
Paul
March 13, 2019Hi Brownie, wow! Sorry I missed your comment earlier here. And yes, I’d totally go with the garden boxes. But I’d fill it with a mix of peat moss based potting mix, compost, and top soil. Here’s a little recipe to follow:
60 percent topsoil
30 percent compost
10 percent soilless growing mix (potting soil)
Then you’ll want a fertilizer mix added to add nutrients to the bed and I’d use this fertilizer mix: https://www.amazon.com/Down-Earth-6-Pound-Vegan-7822/dp/B001B2W9HS
Here’s the source for the raised bed recipe: https://raisedbeds.com/garden-bed-soil-calculator/
Hope this helps!
Karen Riback
March 12, 2019This year I am having to have major work done on the outside of my house. Because of this, I will need to plant at least the first planting in containers. I hoping the work will be done by the second or third planting
Paul
March 13, 2019Awesome Karen – that’s a great way to start out and then you can always transplant your potted plants or plant your second plantings into the ground.
Mona Norris
April 10, 2019Our Clemson extension allows us to send soil samples from various spots in the garden for free. I will be contacting them to obtain instructions.
Paul
April 10, 2019Hi Mona – you can definitely do that. Unfortunately many extensions don’t give organic recommendations for amending the soil in a natural way that is why we recommend using Peaceful Valley. I know it is an investment but we believe it to be well worth it in the end!
Mona Norris
April 11, 2019Thank you Paul. I will order the kit as you suggests. I had no idea their tests were limited.
Paul
April 11, 2019You bet! You are welcome!
Teresa Paterson
April 11, 2020Where does on buy Trifecta Plus fertilizer?
Paul
April 12, 2020Great question Teresa! I haven’t personally purchased or used Trifecta+ but it looks like you can purchase it from MIGardener here: https://migardener.com/store/fertilizer/3-lb-trifecta/
They are currently backordered but you can get on the waitlist. 🙂
Nina
April 16, 2020Do I need to test my soil if I’m planning to grow everything in planters and pots?
Paul
April 17, 2020Great question Nina! No, you would not really need to test your soil if you are growing in containers. You will want to make sure the potting mix you use has a good all-round fertilizer for your plants. Down to Earth Vegan Mix is a good one to look into that I’ve used in container growing before.
Candace M. Buyuklu
April 22, 2020I am planning on building raised beds and using some type of purchased mix to fill them so don’t need to test soil. Haven’t checked local places for what is available yet as with virus everything is slow, shorter hours or shut down so still have to look around when I can get out. Any suggestions on what to use, live in Illinois if it helps.
Paul
April 22, 2020Hi Candace! You bet. We normally suggest the following mix for a raised bed:
60% top soil
30% compost
10% potting pix (peat moss based)
Then you’ll want a fertilizer mix added to add nutrients to the bed and I’d use this fertilizer mix: https://www.amazon.com/Down-Earth-6-Pound-Vegan-7822/dp/B001B2W9HS
Here’s the source for the raised bed recipe: https://raisedbeds.com/garden-bed-soil-calculator/
I would really try to do something as close to that as possible!
Judi Piscitello
April 30, 2020I have to do patio container gardening only (due to a neighbor’s HUGE black walnut tree dropping walnuts all over my yard) and just ordered the containers but still need to purchase the soil. Do I need to test the soil I purchase?
Jenna ONeil
April 27, 2021I’m looking for a good alternative for peat moss since, even supplied by Canada, harvesting it is not an ideal choice for the environment it comes from or the planet as a whole.
https://www.life.ca/naturallife/0712/asknlpeat.html
Thank you!
Jenna
Emily
September 13, 2021I’m having problems viewing the content on this website. The videos overlap the text and I can’t get them to play. Do you have a suggestion for me? I’m using Firefox on Windows 10.
Sister Maria Philomena
February 24, 2022I’m unable to play the videos (it is rather a pain to have download the videos to view). OS X (10.11.6) — FIrefox 78.15
Sister Maria Philomena
February 24, 2022Never mind! I figured out how to over-ride the Flash error message.
Suhaib Ahmed
July 4, 2022Dear Paul
I am unable to access the following
Digging Deeper
Learn more about the soil:
Soil Formation and Structure
Organic Matter and Chemical Balances
The Life in the Soil
please help.
Thankyou
Suhaib
Marte Rieser
October 20, 2022I’m not seeing how to purchase the soil test on the website link. Do they still offer it?
Ed
November 10, 2022I have access to horse manure. Piles and piles. Some old, some new. Is there a reason to not use horse manure to add organic matter to an otherwise very sandy soil. Thanks.
RW
December 18, 2022Ed, this is late. But watch out for a chemical used on horse pastures called Grazon. It’s a broadleaf weed killer (only grasses survive) and it’s evil… so some research, it’s killed people’s gardens, landscape, trees, everything when they brought in some manure. It’s persistent, passes thru the horse’s digestive system, washes off into nearby fields and contaminates them, then passes thru cow digestive systems, etc.. So any manure product or even self-collected from a farm is suspect now. Test a small bit with a pea or bean seed to see if it germinates properly and doesn’t come up curled and twisted and stunted. I spent hours shoveling manure from a nice lady’s farm, who swore her horses hadn’t been exposed but it won’t grow anything and the seed we planted came up twisted. Now I have to shovel that back out of the compost bin I quarantined it in, and dispose of it without contaminating someone else’s environment. (Suppose I’ll put it into the regular trash pickup and let the waste-to-steam plant burn it up.) Be very careful nowadays of this type manure. I think we’re ok with rabbit and chicken (but that we are supposed to wait til chicken has manured.) HTH.
Richard
January 6, 2023Clicking the link on your soil testing video takes me to…. https://www.groworganic.com/collections/professional-soil-testing. I watched the two videos they featured but did not see a way of ordering a soil test.
Tracy Wright
January 12, 2023After clicking on the link I did not see a place to order a soil testing kit. My apologies if I missed it, but can you let me know how to order my soil test kit? Thank you
Jeffrey Smith
January 14, 2023Ref: soil testing by Grow Organic
I got this response from Grow Organic in October ’22; “At this time, we are not offering soil analysis other than the kit you were sent previously. We expect to offer them again in early Spring. I apologize for the confusion.”
I am impatient and sent away for a analysis from Univ of Delaware. I just got it back but, it does not seem to be helpful for organic amendments.
Lindy
January 20, 2023Just put in 4 galvanized feed troughs- 3×8 to replace a wooden garden that finally rotted away. Added topsoil, black cow and compost. Plan to add peat moss. Probably too early to test? Can you suggest a fertilizer to add or other amendments? Multiple holes in bottom….rocks for drainage…not sure any worm could survive the Texas heat!
Thanks!!
Chris
March 3, 2023Hi Paul. I clicked the link to order the soil test, it takes me to the store but i get an error saying there is no product and to remove the filters and search again.
Charles Griffin
March 27, 2023I got the same results it is upsetting.
Estrella herrera
March 12, 2023Hi Paul, I clicked the link. But the website said there’s no product. Maybe they do not have it any more. Any recommendations?
Thanks
Shane
March 15, 2023The link to the soil test takes us to an empty page
Perry (SnapShot)
April 5, 2023I guess that the link you have above for the soil tests has changed to this link, https://www.groworganic.com/collections/diy-soil-test-kits?_pos=1&_psq=tests&_ss=e&_v=1.0 and I had to do a search to find it. Really enjoyed your three live classes and look forward to your new layout program. I have many pages of notes and now viewing your learning videos. As far as I know I have never found anyone or company that is doing the great things that you are doing, so keep up the good work.
Charles griffin
April 26, 2023This still does not give the same lab results and description on how to fix as the video.
Atkin
April 29, 2023I reached out to the Seedtime team and they were not aware until I reached out that this company no longer supplies the soil test they used to. They told me they were researching other options and would update this once they have a good supplier. For now, I’m going to do my own research online and at my local garden store for what tests to use and what to test for.
Charles Griffin
May 13, 2023Thank you Atkin
John
April 7, 2024I am disappointed with the content of this master class. The links to borntogrow.net are broken. I get a screen that says “Uh oh… looks like you don’t have access to this content”.
It also looks like Peaceful Valley at http://www.groworganic.com/soil-health/soil-testing/professional-soil-testing.html no longer offers soil testing. They do sell a wide variety of DIY test kits, but nothing like what is described in the video.
I am getting the impression these videos and associated links are out of date, and I’m wondering if I wasted my money on seedtime.us.
John