Here’s how to get your gardening soil PERFECT!

Video instructs you about do-it-yourself soil testing! [Food Gardening Network Preview]( December 8, 2023 [Get these simple, do-it-yourself soil-testing methods today!]( Watch this video, and you’ll save time and money when testing your soil for its viability in your vegetable garden. Easy-to-execute ways for testing your soil yourself—and then amending your soil to make it better! [DIY Soil Testing] Dear Gardener, You can plant the best foods—from seed or seedling—and water, weed, and treat them for pests and diseases, but if you don’t start with the best soil for your plants, your tending efforts might be in vain. Now comes this 5-minute video from Food Gardening Network, [DIY Soil Testing for Vegetable Gardens]( to help you assess your soil on your own—without the costly efforts of an outside lab. Plus, tips for amending your soil based on your test results! Before you start applying fertilizers and lime treatments to your soil, test it! Soil tests are like DNA kits for your gardens. So many people amend their soil without even knowing what they’re trying to fix. Do-it-yourself soil testing can often prevent the need for additional “fixing” later on down the road, as healthy soil is ultimately key to success. [Food Gardening Network Charter Gold Membership Special Offer—Just $10 for an Entire Year! UPGRADE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY! Become a Charter Gold Member today and get the Food Gardening Magazine and Library, Gardening Guides, and Recipes! [Gold Membership] Check out all that this new food gardening club has to offer you today! YES, SIGN ME UP NOW FOR JUST $10!]( What Soil Testing Achieves pH testing is the most basic test of your soil, and it can be done at home. Achieving a healthy soil pH is essential to providing plants with the necessary nutrients for growth. If your soil acidity is too high, the soil builds up a toxic level of nutrients. If your soil pH is too low or acidic, it will deplete the soil of nutrients, keeping the plant from growing at all or killing it. Without an adequately balanced environment in which to grow, cultivating a thriving garden becomes almost impossible. If you haven’t already, you should examine your soil for toxins and lead. With a thorough soil test, the texture of your soil—silt, clay, or sand—will be identified as well as its acidity level (pH). The existing levels of essential nutrients like magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium will also be calculated. How to Test Your Soil at Home If you don’t have the money or patience to wait for a lab report, try a DIY soil tester you can use in your own garden. In this video and article, you get one of our best recommendations for a DIY soil tester. With some tests, you simply use a clean trowel or spade to remove a sample of soil from at least 4 inches below the surface of your vegetable garden bed. Try not to touch the soil, and avoid clumps and large rocks, as you want a good representation of the area’s soil. Then mix the samples with water, just a few drops for the pH, and a few cups for the other tests. After a little waiting, the color will tell you your results. [Food Gardening Network Charter Gold Membership Special Offer—Just $10 for an Entire Year! UPGRADE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY! Become a Charter Gold Member today and get the Food Gardening Magazine and Library, Gardening Guides, and Recipes! [Gold Membership] Check out all that this new food gardening club has to offer you today! YES, SIGN ME UP NOW FOR JUST $10!]( Watch this video now to get all the details about ways to test your soil—plus, how to use your testing results to improve your soil for an optimal garden, in [DIY Soil Testing for Vegetable Gardens](. And this video is just one of 23 DIY how-to videos in our library for you to access right now, including: - How to Start Seeds Indoors: Grow Kits vs. DIY Methods - How to Start Gardening with Grow Bags for Vegetables and Fruits - Homemade Bug Spray for Vegetable Plants - How to Build a Raised Lettuce Garden - How to Create a Custom DIY Drip Irrigation System for Raised Beds for Under $100 And that’s not all—we have 35 practical how-to gardening videos for you to enjoy and benefit from right now, including: - How to Design the Best Garden Layout for Vegetables in Your Yard - The Biggest Differences Between Planting in Raised Beds vs. In-Ground - 5 Vegetables to Plant this Month - Preventing Weeds in Your Garden - How to Create a Food Forest of Flowering Fruit Trees And in the true spirit of Food Gardening Network, you get 31 cooking videos that show you exactly how to use your harvest with recipes and video instruction, including: - How to Preserve Peeled Garlic in a Delicious Garlic Confit - Fresh Grilled Mexican Street Corn Salad - Tomato Basil Mozzarella Salad Recipe - Grilled Eggplant Marinade with Garlic and Basil - 3 Easy Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes That’s 89 total videos in our library, right now, for you to access. But the great news is that we’re posting a new video every month, so you’ll continue to benefit from newer videos all year long! [Food Gardening Network Charter Gold Membership Special Offer—Just $10 for an Entire Year! UPGRADE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY! Become a Charter Gold Member today and get the Food Gardening Magazine and Library, Gardening Guides, and Recipes! [Gold Membership] Check out all that this new food gardening club has to offer you today! YES, SIGN ME UP NOW FOR JUST $10!]( But this is just a fraction of what you get with your [Food Gardening Network Charter Gold Membership]( You see Gold Membership is packed with benefits you can’t get anywhere else! As Editor & Publisher of Food Gardening Network, I’m happy to have you as a free Bronze Member, but that only gives you a small taste of what Food Gardening Network is all about. When you upgrade now to [Food Gardening Network Charter Gold Membership]( you unlock the key to an entire library of material, absolutely everything we publish about growing good food at home—all access and all the time for you, including: - [All-Access Membership in Food Gardening Network Gold Club]( only online resource for planning, planting, growing, tending, harvesting, and enjoying foods from your very own garden. - Subscription to Food Gardening Magazine—you get monthly issues filled with articles about how to start, maintain, and harvest food from your own garden at home. Plus, instant and unlimited access to the entire searchable digital library of back issues! - Subscription to RecipeLion Magazine—you get quarterly issues filled with hundreds of delicious and easy-to-make recipes at your fingertips, plus tips and tricks for developing new cooking skills. Plus, instant and unlimited access to the entire searchable digital library of back issues! - Gardening Guides—you get instant access to more than 55 comprehensive guidebooks that are plant-specific—from tomatoes, basil, and garlic to potatoes, pumpkins, beans, corn, squash, and more!—about how to grow, harvest, and enjoy the bounty of your home garden. Learn everything about specific foods you can grow, get recipes to enjoy with friends and family, and enjoy tips on health benefits and home remedies that use your harvest! - Cookbooks—you get full and instant access to 9 digital cookbooks, filled with more than 1,300 recipes! You’ll never run out of ways to enjoy the fruits of your labor with these easy-to-make recipes! From single dishes to a whole meal—we’ve got you covered! - Videos & Video Library—you get instant access to more than 80 videos in our library with gardening tips, tricks, and tactics; do-it-yourself projects for gardening and crafting items; and cooking videos to show you exactly how to make specific dishes. Plus, access to new monthly videos over the coming year! - NEW! Planning Calendars —every season of the year, you get printable planning calendars to help keep your garden on track. Calendars include tasks, checklists, notes, and recipes that use fresh seasonal ingredients from your garden. - NEW SERVICE! Recipe of the Week—every Sunday, you get a recipe with quick, easy, and delicious ways to cook food—delivered weekly to your email inbox. - Gold Member Insider—you get this exclusive email service, delivered regularly to your inbox, to guide you through the Food Gardening Network Library. Saves you time finding articles, magazine issues, gardening guides, videos, kits, and recipes that you won't want to miss! And all of this is available to you —right now—when you upgrade to a [Food Gardening Network Charter Gold Membership.]( I want to see your name on my daily list of new Gold Members—you deserve to join like-minded gardeners and get full access to our entire library of material for optimizing your food garden. Please become a [Food Gardening Network Charter Gold Member]( today—while this special offer lasts! Sincerely, [Christy Page Signature] Christy Page Editor & Publisher Food Gardening Network P.S. Your success with food gardening depends on you acting now—please claim your [Food Gardening Network Charter Gold Membership]( today and get the only all-in-one-place resource for planning, planting, growing, tending, harvesting, and enjoying foods from your very own garden. P.P.S. Please remember: full access to the [DIY Soil Testing for Vegetable Gardens]( video—plus, all 89 how-to videos in our library and upcoming monthly videos—is waiting for you when you [become a Gold Member today]( [Food Gardening Network Charter Gold Membership Special Offer—Just $10 for an Entire Year! UPGRADE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY! Become a Charter Gold Member today and get the Food Gardening Magazine and Library, Gardening Guides, and Recipes! [Gold Membership] Check out all that this new food gardening club has to offer you today! YES, SIGN ME UP NOW FOR JUST $10!]( About Food Gardening Network: Food Gardening Network brings you expert in-depth information and daily advice to help you grow good food at home and become the best food gardener you can be. Our worldwide community of gardeners, farmers, and cooking enthusiasts share advice and practical information on how to plan, plant, grow, tend, harvest and enjoy great-tasting and nutritional food from your home garden. 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