I know that my body needs a mix of pro
tein, carbohydrates, and fats, and over the
years I’ve learned enough to adjust how much
of each I eat, but I don’t do this by numbers.
I’ve learned to size it up with my eyes, and I
know what a portion of leafy greens looks like
(it’s a cupful when pressed down lightly) or
what a ¼ cup of raisins looks like or a medium
apple. Since I weigh myself daily, I know if my calorie intake and energ y output
is balanced (or unbalanced).
So, since I seem to be doing okay, why shouldn’t I think of my plants in the
same way and avoid confusion?
There is one single marker for the Goldilocks equation, and that’s pH, a scale
measuring from 0 to 14, with 0 representing pure acid and 14 representing pure
lye. The neutral point is, logically, 7.
Wouldn’t it be nice if all plants loved growing in neutral soil? Unfortunately,
they do not. But here we can still pull off a reasonable compromise, since most
plants do well enough between 5.5 and 7.5. (A notable exception is the potato,
which requires a pH of between 4.8 and 6.5, but which I don’t plant in my garden
due to lack of space.)
At the very least you should get a start-out baseline reading of your soil (see
page 18) and perhaps an annual check up in the late fall, when most of the har
vesting has been done. A 1-pint sample is enough, taken from several parts of the
garden from holes dug down 6–8 inches and scraped from the wall of the hole
in a thin downward slice. Consult your local county extension agent or refer to
the Yellow Pages under “Soil Testing” to fi nd out where and how to send your
samples.
I was told to add peat moss or good compost to add acidity and ground lime
stone to increase alkalinity. But frankly, this is where I bowed to my friends and
their local knowledge. Most textbooks speak of 50–80 pounds of lime to change
1,000 square feet of soil by 1 pH point (from 5.5 to 6.5, for instance), but that’s
not what I saw being done. Because I’ve got only about 400 square feet of raised36 • GROWING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE