Good soils are the solid foundation upon which to build a productive garden. In nature, soils are self creating and self degrading but human activity often results in additional degradation without due regard to building soil. If we want to progress towards sustainable methods of food production we must understand the needs of healthy soils.
The lot in the backyard of the home on Edgerton has been grass for many years, which actually results in a good level of organic material in the soil, but, being in Western Pennsylvania, we have pretty heavy clay. The Penn State Agronomy Guide confirms our soil’s characteristics and states that “the Pittsburgh Plateau in central and southwest Pennsylvania is dominated by soils developed in acid clay shales and interbedded shales and sandstones.” Clay is good at retaining nutrients, but it suffers from poor drainage and suffocating compaction. With a Soil Test we were able to determine the baseline numbers for nutrients and the pH.
For soil improvement, we are using a number of soil building techniques including several composting methods, mulching, planting nitrogen-fixing plants and encouraging soil life, all of which you can read more about Here.
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