pH

The next thing you need to understand about your soil is the pH. This is a measure of how acidic your soil is. While the chemical scale of pH ranges from 0 to 14, most soil is around a pH of 5 to 9. A soil pH of 7 is neutral. The lower the number is, the more acidic your soil is, the higher the number, the more alkaline it is. Most fruit trees and berry bushes do best in slightly acidic soil around a pH of 6. However there are some berries such as blueberries that prefer a very acidic soil around a pH of 4.5 to 5.

Testing the pH of your soil is easy. Most hardware stores and nurseries sell the same cheap soil kit you would use to test the soil in your garden. The only difference is that when you test the soil of your garden you are sampling from 4 inches below the surface. When you want to test the soil for fruit trees you want to test the soil at 12 to 16 inches below. If you want to test the soil for low growing berry bushes, you should test the soil from 6 inches below the surface.

If your soil is too far off there are many ways to adjust it. Soil that is too acidic can be augmented with lime the same way you would adjust the soil for the tomatoes in your garden.  Soil that is too alkaline can be mulched with a modest layer of mature pine mulch and a ground cover of grass clippings.