I’m attempting to return my garden to this wall of tomatoes that I enjoyed a few years ago. This post continues the story about the buildup of salts in my garden soil that drastically reduced yields of tomatoes and peppers, here. I followed the suggestions of the technicians at the Soil, Water, and Plant Testing Laboratory at Colorado State University and flooded my raised beds three times to dissolve salts and remove them. I estimate that I placed five inches of water on the beds. Then I took soil samples and sent them back to the lab to see if I had fixed the problem. Apparently I have, for the report stated that “Electrical conductivity is low. When E.C. is less than 2.0, salinity is not a problem for plant growth.” But by flushing the soil, I removed needed nitrogen, and the lab suggested that I apply urea to my beds, about 1/4 pound per 100 square feet, That should also help adjust the pH, which was running a bit high. My organic material was high, drainage was good. and lime was a bit low, so all is good in those departments.
Part 3 of this report will be at the end of the 2020 growing season when I report on yields.
