Tuesday, February 10, 2009

What's in Your Soil?

There's no real substitute for a professional soil test if you are thinking of planting a vegetable garden. But there is a terrific website that allows you to cruise around your neighborhood and get a general idea of what's in the soil and whether it will support the kind of food gardening you have in mind.

Last night I attended a two-hour class on urban soils sponsored by Casey Trees, a non-profit organization here in the District of Columbia that works to grow the city's tree canopy. The class was taught by a soil scientist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and among the things we learned were these:

* There are thousands of different soil types around the United States, some better for gardening and planting trees than other.

* Much of the country's topsoil is disappearing because of agricultural practices that favor applications of artificial fertilizers rather than organic matter.

* Urban soils suffer from trash and compaction. Plants need oxygen in the soil to grow and a healthy soil typically is composed of 25 percent oxygen. Vibrations from heavy road traffic work to compact nearby soil.

* The "fall line" separating the upland Piedmont and Appalachian regions from the Atlantic coastal plains runs right through the middle of the District of Columbia. (It runs from New York City through Philadelphia, Washington and south all the way to Florida). Piedmont soils are distinctly different from coastal plains soils.

The USDA has spent years collecting data on soils around the country. Its latest internet tool, the "Web Soil Survey," allows you to enter an address and pull up all kinds of information on the soil in your area, including organic content, pH, and whether it rates as suitable for growing food.

When you get to the site, click on the green button to start the survey. Type in your address and you'll see a satellite photo of your neighborhood. You'll have tons of options and things to look at. You might want to set a day aside to get used to cruising around this wealth of valuable data.

3 comments:

~I AM Love~* said...

Hi there, glad I've stumbled upon your blog ... lot's of useful information here! Love this post, it will be very helpful this growing season for one of the community gardens that I'm working with... Thanks :)

Barbara

Ed Bruske said...

Thanks for stopping by, Barbara. It's not immediately obvious how to work the interactive soil tool. But I think can get some useful information by playing around with it, especially if you have some basic knowledge of soil issues.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link Ed. I have a soil book for my county published by the USDA and the Virginia extension Service in 1961 (1958 survey), and have always cherished it. We used it when we looked around for property (but still ended buying far from prime soil - figuring we could build it up, which we are slowly) but it's great to know the tool is on-line and accessible to all.