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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Wednesday, February 05, 2025
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Little Ketchup
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Grittyville, WA
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Entry 34 of 56 |
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I have realized a few things, one is that the the EC is probably very low at the start of the season because of all the rain. Another thing is that bringing all the poor mineral soil up and mixing all the nice fertile top soil down could be more detrimental than I was expecting. So I will do 3 tests of the soil profile "as is" and just one test of an extreme mixing of the soil profile, such as would happen if I rented machinery and deep dug the patch.
I'm pleased with how the first "as is" test tube turned out. I used a post hole digger to remove the garden soil digging downward layer by layer. I placed it into the "test tube" and then, since after filling the tube directly from the hole in the garden the soil profile was upside down from its original state, I inverted the tube so the surface soil was back on top again...
It was less work than expected and it turned our better than I expected.
A video would be worth ten thousand words but I'm just not going to go that route yet.
Last, I'm noticing ample pore space despite trying to compact the soil back to a "stand on it" soil density. I'm using a wood stick to try to apply about 10 lbs per square inch which I figure is about where it needs to be for the test to best mimick reality. The reality is I'm too lazy and cheap for walking boards.
The huge amount of pore space I can see even after compressing it is interesting. I do have light textured sandy loam filled with pumice and underlain by pumice from some ancient eruption... overall its not easily compressed into concrete. I think I can walk on it and the plant roots will barely notice. I could be wrong.
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