How Make Your Own Garden Soil
- 1). Place nitrogen-rich materials like grass cuttings, fruit and vegetable scraps into a compost bin to make your own compost. This may seem like a labor-intensive process, but it's actually fairly easy to achieve with common and natural ingredients that you already have in your home. Add oxygen-rich materials like fallen leaves, hay and shredded newspaper. Keep the mixture moist and mix it every few days to keep it aerated. Compost is considered finished when it is brown and crumbly, without individually recognizable components.
- 2). Mix the compost you created with the soil that is already present in your garden. Add a layer 2 to 3 inches deep across your garden. Aim to mix the compost 6 to 8 inches deep into the existing soil to create your new garden soil.
- 3). Water the mixture and measure the pH level of the garden soil. You can measure the pH level by using a test kit that you can purchase at a garden store. You can also send a small sample of your soil to a local university extension office that will test the soil for you for a small fee.
- 4). Add soil sulfur to your garden in order to lower the pH level, as require by the plants you plan to use in your garden. The desired pH level for your garden soil depends on what you want to grow in the soil. If your pH is at 7.0 and you want it to be at 6.0, then you need to 3 lbs. of sulfur per 100 yards of soil. If your pH is at 6.0 and you want it to be at 5.0, then you need to add 6.3 lbs. of sulfur per 100 yards of soil. And to lower from 5.0 to 4.0, add 10.3 lbs. of sulfur per 100 yards.
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