Huh. Is this an old house with an old garden/farm that lay fallow or new house on old farmland?

I ask because your CEC seems low to your acidity, pH and the fractions of nutrients. I practice west of 100º so I don't see these analyses, but it seems from here you need some organic matter and lime, and perhaps locals can recommend other inexpensive available amendments to bump up these measurements. It shouldn't take much to get into a good pH for most garden veggies and flowers and that part of the country has its challenges but is very forgiving, and I'd take some of that pH!

Dan

Hi Dan, we have lived here about 12 years but this area was an old field that I think may have had cattle.. this particular area that I took the soil from has flooded quite a few times with the river water staying over it all winter..This is the first it has ever been tilled to grow anything I do believe..
I was saying I had a soil test done last year on a different area of our 2 acres and the ph came back 6.5.. I really dont understand how the numbers for so many of these things on the test are so different..

Now the 6.5 in the upland is what I expect, Amy. The CEC I can believe as well in bottom land if the upriver isn't allowing deposit of good organic matter and is depositing minerals that will lower pH (faster current carrying away fine particles).

Are you doing the garden in the upland or in the bottom land? If the bottom land and it still lies in flood for a portion of the year, you may be receiving deposits that make it difficult to make your soil more basic over time - e.g the farmer upstream may be sulfuring and you are getting the deposit. If in the upland your only concern should be CEC, PK and maybe micronutrients if too low (the cost to bump them up is the concern). Maybe if you point me to another forum where you discuss this I can stop asking dumb questions that you answered already...

Dan

Hi Dan, we have this garden in the flod plain, it was the only open area this year to try a veggie garden. I plan to take out a couple small trees this fall and do away with this garden and plow up the front yard which is out of the flood zone.. I never thought about the fact that we are around farms and the water most likely is carrying alot of who knows what downstream..

This site has a few paragraphs on cation exchange capacity about halfway down the page. May or may not be helpful.

That's a good link, albert, and it gets to part of my confusion about the soil's CEC in that position.

If you are just doing it for a short time, it is problematic wrt your wallet and time whether to till in some OM for structure and lime to get your pH in a better reaction, but at least you'll get the practice down and get used to what you need to do.

Dan

100 yards is a fairly long distance and not only could you have a soil that has a much different nutrient mix and pH level you could have a soil that is totally different in structure and texture.
How much Organic matter is in that soil? A soil pH of 5.9 is a bit low, the optimal soil pH ranges from 6.2 to 6.8, so what did the soil test analysis say about why the low pH?

Hi Kimmsr, it does not give the organic matter % nor did it say anything about why the ph level was so low.. Basically it just has what info I put on here and how to fix the problems..

My reply in your previous post outlined 5 simple soil tests that could help you understand your soil better. Have you done them?