Weather — gardening — prepping; all link together.
In the Fall it will be putting up food and big cooking that tie in with prepping.
My boss pulled out his phone yesterday to show off the trailer be built and just got painted so I pulled mine out and showed a pic of the tunnel frame. He said he’s thought about making raised beds and hoops to go over them. I plan to make hoops for my raised beds and will have to show him pics. That and a pic of the tunnel with plastic on. Maybe it will motivate him. I told him about this guy I know on the web that grows a lot of food in his small backyard in some beds with hoops. (Pete)
The pH test strips I got might be junk. Says I have alkaline soil. Tell that to the blueberries and raspberries that grow wild here. Even the cattle farmers lime here so they can grow a wider variety of grasses and legumes.
Gonna try again with distilled water which is what you’re supposed to use. I used the local spring water. The sample came from the front yard garden which has been amended with compost but I doubt compost made locally would be alkaline. Need to take some samples from other spots like the tunnel and areas that have never had compost.
If I still get wacky results, I’ll just have to send off a sample to a lab. That’ll tell me a lot more anyway.
Holy crap. Looks like the price went down. Used to be $35 but is $15 now at MU Extension.
Regular analysis: pH, Neutralizable acidity, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Organic matter, Cation exchange capacity (includes grinding with recommendations)
Had I known that, I probably wouldn’t have paid $14 for the pH test strips. I just now looked it up. LOL
I bet they had a lot of complaints of being higher than most every other state. For another $7.50 I can add micro-nutrient testing but I need to get the pH right and get organic matter in there first.
I was sort of boycotting the $35 price but for $15, I’ll start testing it every year.
.