Some will insist soil testing is not required to grow a garden. The greatest error most gardeners make is the failure to properly analyze the soil where their food will be grown. Consider again that you cannot manage what you cannot measure. Poor fertility yields poor plants and poor nutrition. Average fertility yields average plants and average nutrition. Excellent fertility grows excellent plants that yield excellent produce, excellent taste and excellent nutrition!
For best results, one must not average together soils showing obvious differences. Ignoring differences in soil content and plant growth, and hoping a single mix will provide all that is required for the entire area is always a mistake. For every difference you observe in a garden or field, there will generally be one or more different nutrient availability issues that can be detected. If your growing area is large enough, treat each tract separately and supply the right nutrients as fertilizers and amendments appropriate for that particular soil’s needs. If obvious differences are evident but the area is too small to sample and treat separately, stay out of it, avoid mixing soil from that area with the sample that will be sent for analysis.
There are many books you can purchase on growing foods organically, and the more you study and put what you learn into practice, the more rewarding your gardening can become. You’ll find my recommendations for books to study in the Additional Resources section at the end of this article. But let’s consider an important principle. Years ago, as I was becoming interested in organic gardening, I read Ruth Stout’s book, How To Have A Green Thumb Without An Aching Back.
The book had many good points in it on how to use mulching to save moisture, keep weeds out, and grow great vegetables. But I overlooked one important point. The author had worked many years to build up the fertility of that soil before mulching was used to obtain the results described in the book. It is true, mulching works very well, but it does not make up for a lack of fertility. You need the proper nutrients in sufficient amounts if you expect good productivity and quality from your garden. A soil test should be used to determine whether your soil measures up, and once the garden has an excellent fertility level, soil testing should continue to be practiced to assure it stays that way.