Finally!!

We had a work party at our new house this weekend and got so much work done. Most importantly (for this blog anyway), we got the garden rototilled. Went from hard-pan, scrubby grass and weeds, to 12" deep, finely textured soil.


The first pass was the worst; ripping out quack grass, reeds, and all kinds of weeds I can't even identify, was a process.

After 4 passes, with the last at the deepest tilling setting, I'm really happy with the soil tilth. I only found 3 or 4 rocks in the whole garden (!), and no clay deposits, so that is good. I can tell already that what is really lacking is organic materials. Some manure and compost would go a long way. I am planning on sending off a soil sample to my local extension office for a soil report, which will tell me the current chemical makeup of my soil, which will help me determine what I need to do this year to make the soil healthier for the future.

Before we bought the house I researched the soil composition from this awesome government website. You can zone in on your exact piece of land (at least where I live) and get a full report on the soil in that area.

Here are the results for our 5 acres:

Whatcom County Area, Washington

179—​Whatcom silt loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes

Map Unit Setting

• Elevation: 50 to 600 feet
• Mean annual precipitation: 35 to 50 inches
• Mean annual air temperature: 48 to 52 degrees F
• Frost-​free period: 150 to 190 days

Map Unit Composition

• Whatcom and similar soils: 85 percent
• Minor components: 8 percent

Description of Whatcom

Setting

• Landform: Hillslopes
• Parent material: Volcanic ash and loess over glaciomarine deposits

Properties and qualities

• Slope: 3 to 8 percent
• Depth to restrictive feature: More than 80 inches
• Drainage class: Moderately well drained
• Capacity of the most limiting layer to transmit water (Ksat): Moderately low to moderately high (0.06 to 0.20 in/hr)
• Depth to water table: About 18 to 36 inches
• Frequency of flooding: None
• Frequency of ponding: None
• Calcium carbonate, maximum content: 5 percent
• Available water capacity: Very high (about 12.7 inches)

Interpretive groups

• Land capability classification (irrigated): 3w
• Land capability (nonirrigated): 3w

Typical profile

• 0 to 9 inches: Silt loam
• 9 to 16 inches: Silt loam
• 16 to 26 inches: Loam
• 26 to 60 inches: Loam"

And there's WAY more information than that. Very interesting and useful website.