Tomorrow a new research can state a new theory…. A good soil or rich medium speaks for itself, you can make out the difference from a healthy plant to a sick one from your own eyes. Without a microscope, you can know whether a soil is abundant or not. In rich soil the fruits will be tastier. The colour would be bright and radiant not just dark, there will be lots of birds and insects around. Another way of analyzing soil is if you see earthworms if these wigglers thrive, rest assured your soil has everything it needs to grow nutritious vegetables. Your plants also tell you what nutrient is missing in them for eg. If there is calcium deficiency the older leaves will twist and curl. And when there is abundance of nitrogen the leaves will look vibrant green and grow bigger. If you are observant of your plants you’ll know what they are asking. It’s a slow process but I can assure you its achievable.
How to prepare potting mix for vegetables:
Though some plants like clay soil and some like sandy soil but most vegetable bearing plants like dark, crumbly, humus rich soil, with lots of microbes and earthworms.
If you want a medium light in weight which will serve your container garden majorly on terrace and balconies, you need to mix these ingredients.
Cocopeat
Vermicompost
Aged manure.
Rhizobium
Trichoderma
Pseudomonas
Neem cake
Gypsum
Rockphosphate.
For your garden blend all of these ingredients in garden soil itself.
How to water your soil:
Keep your soil moist all the time, please remember moist is the word and not wet. A slow release water system would be best to employ.
Use drip irrigation system to maintain the quality of your soil. Watering with mug gushes the water out immediately and soil loses most minerals.
Soil ph:
PH or Potential of hydrogen affects your plant’s ability to absorb nutrients, minerals and growth. Before the nutrients can be available to plants they need to be soluble in soil. Ph is a calculation to learn about whether soil is acidic or alkaline. You can adjust these by adding contents if you need to increase or decrease your soil PH level according to the plants you are growing.
The ph ranges from 0-14 where 7 is the neutral calculation. If your soil computes less than 7 it means it is acidic and if it measures greater than 7 this indicates your soil is alkaline.
Once you know the ph of your soil you can grow a lot of veggies easily, because then you can provide an amicable environment for your plants.
