how to test soil
PH hello and welcome to video jug we've
come to Holland Park in London head
Gardener Stella feir is going to show us
how to test your soil PH the pH refers
to how acidic or alkaline your soil is
and is important for plant growth most
plants will grow well in neutral soil
but some prefer acidic or alkaline
conditions by doing the test you'll be
able to find out which plants suit your
garden step one you will need a pH
tester this can be bought from a garden
center and a trial step two preparing
the sight use the tri to dig a small
hole in an area of soil break up and
crumble the soil inside the hole remove
any debris such as stones and twigs fill
the hole with water to create a muddy
pool you should use rain water or
bottled water which will have a neutral
pH tap water may not be perfectly
neutral and so may affect the
result
step three taking a reading wipe the
tester with a tissue or cloth and insert
it into the hole wait for 60 seconds
before taking a reading pH is usually
measured on a scale of 1 to
14 neutral soil is
ph7 acidic soil is below seven and
alkaline is above
seven some testers will have a color
scale rather than numbers if the tester
turns yellow or orange the soil is
acidic green represents neutral soil and
dark green represents
alkaline once you know the pH of the
soil you can concentrate on growing
plants that would do well in your
garden
done