Amanda Blum is a freelancer who writes about smart home technology, gardening, and food preservation. Previously, Amanda has worked as a technology strategist specializing in problem solving and ...

A $20 UMass Amherst soil test gives gardeners custom advice to improve soil, save money and help plants grow better.

A garden may appear to be perfect on the surface and still fail spectacularly underneath. That rich, dark soil might promise ...

Agricultural soil testing is critical to determining soil’s nutrient concentration and variability across your fields. It is ideal to test your fields’ soil at least every two to three years to inform ...

Now that we have experienced the first frost of the season, and the growing season for most garden and home landscape plants has come to an end, we as gardeners tend to start thinking about things we ...

Wildfire survivors across Los Angeles County are discovering that the most dangerous consequence from a wildfire isn’t always visible. Lead, arsenic, and other toxic metals could be hiding deep in ...

To have our best gardens, we need to know our soil. A soil test is the single best piece of information you can obtain for your garden. Here’s my soil test as an example, and what kind of ...

Key Points A squeeze test to feel the soil is one of the best ways to tell if it's ready for planting.Slightly warmer soil ...

GREENSBORO, N.C. — How does your garden grow? Well, if you’re like me, not as well as I was hoping. Wouldn’t it be great to have an expert to ask questions to? The North Carolina Cooperative Extension ...

When farmers talk about their soil test results, the conversation often starts and ends with soil pH. While that one number is important to determining whether lime is needed, that insight is just a ...

Quick strip tests reveal how much nitrogen is already available in soil and irrigation water, helping you avoid unnecessary ...

To rejuvenate a potentilla, prune all branches back to 3 to 6 inches above ground level. The operation is best performed as ...