Beth,

No. A soil test is not absolutely necessary. If your plants seem to be thriving, I wouldn't worry about it. I did a soil test the first two years, but haven't done one since.

Go ahead and add your organic amendments. You always want to put something back into the soil to make up for the nutrients the plants use up.

I'm not sure why you were told to add lime, although most of the time it has to do with soil pH I think. I have alkaline soil, so I'd never add lime. You might have acidic soil though.

Dawn

Thank you Miss Dawn! Yeah, I thought on it further, and remembered my mother trying to grow a few tomato plants in her back yard a few years ago. They didn't grow, and my Grandpa (retired farmer) said she needed to add lime. So I'll be adding it again this year! Which will be good, that'll take me a week or so to finish up, which means the temps will be more stable (hopefully).

BTW... finally have a copy of Square Foot Gardening! VERY HELPFUL BOOK. I have the original version, and am gleaning whatever info I can off of his website. I sincerely love the at a glance guide in the back of the book... very helpful for a newbie!

My friends are reading the "Twilight" books and Harlequin romances... I'm reading Square Foot Gardening and Putting Food By... LOL! A whole lot more interesting to me. :)

Beth

Beth before adding too much lime I would either have a soil test ran or buy a cheap kit which will give you a general idea unless you know your soil is acidic. I hadn't had a test ran for years till last fall. I also had one ran for fertilizer levels also. Found the levels of fertilizer high and also my PH. I had added a little lime in one area to some of the grass clippings and that area was higher. So adding a few things to bring it down. Normally if you mulch and use organic you should be ok. Like Dawn said if things are growing well I wouldn't worry much but might cut back on the lime unless you know you need it. Just my opinion. Jay

I agree with Jay on testing the soil to see if you need to add lime before you go ahead and add it. It can be easy to overdo it and, often, even if your soil needs it, it doesn't need it every year.

In general I avoid chemical fertilizers because they can build up in the soil rather quickly. I think if you work on building the soil by adding organic material, everything almost always works out OK. I usually just add organic stuff or use one of Espoma's organic plant foods--Tomato-Tone for tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, Vegetable-Tone or Plant-Tone for almost everything else and Holly-tone for the hollies.

I have had to use chemical fertilizers during a very rainy year when the roots were waterlogged and could not take up nutrients from the soil. I had to do it in the spring of 2007 and in the summer of 2004. In both of those years, we had 10" or more of rain in one month and the plants looked like crap. A foliar feeding with Miracle Grow revived them and kept them going until the soil dried out and they could grow normally again.

Thanks for the thoughts guys! I will go to Lowe's tomorow and pick up a couple of kits. One for the side garden, and one for the front (that would be right, right?). I do believe my soil to be fairly good, many years of the pecan tree dropping leaves and sticks... many years of my husband not raking... LOL! (He's a landlord by trade, and has twelve yards to take care of... ours is the last on the list.) Testing would be the safest route to take, I see that. Thanks again!

Beth

I just bought a kit at a nursery Thursday for around 4 dollars that does ten PH tests. And sure they will be cheaper at Lowe's or Home Depot. I will have the extension do another this fall but these give me an idea if I'm gaining and if I'm getting close to my desired levels. So if you are only wanting to check PH one kit as long as it had several tests in it should be sufficient. Jay