Testing the Soil

You can buy test kits and check your garden soil for acidity and alkalinity. I had a kit once, but I never tested the soil. And once I had a hydrangea that I experimented with, feeding it baking soda to turn the flowers purple rather than blue. The flowers on these lovely shrubs range from pink to blue to purple to green, depending on how acid or alkaline the soil is. If you have a lot of pine around, your soil may be more acid than alkaline This could determine how your garden grows. Oh, remember that poem, Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With cockle shells and may bells…

This reminds me, you can add sea weed to your garden. In Ireland the farmers haul buckets of seaweed to the fields. It improves the soil like crazy. We, the ex and I, did this with our last garden, only it is a very steep climb to the beach and back, so I believe it was only a couple of buckets that got delivered, so we couldn't really test the thesis. But if they have done it for centuries in Ireland and it works, they know the why of it all. Seems like there'd be too much salt it in and ruin the soil.

The grandbaby and I were at the beach the other day and he kept giving me handfuls of eel grass. I could have him amend the garden. Yes, tiny buckets of eel grass piled around the tomatoes. Ah, I must be too tired to write coherently. I went to two birthday parties today. It is late now, and I've had more cake than any one girl should eat. Well, any girl who wants to keep her girlish figure that is. I decided today that it wouldn't take very much time every day to really whip my garden plot in shape. This I'm saying at the end of the summer. But hey, remember I said you can winter garden. It all depends on how cold it gets, but it is worth a try. Helps with the winter blues too. At least that's what my friend Deb from http://www.rainyside.com/ says.

Okey dokey, have a good rest of the full moon and see you soon.

Peace, Flower Power