Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

Is Your Soil in Overdraft? Find Out How to Amend Soil

Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

Show Notes

Get practical food-gardening ideas in your inbox with Food Garden Life News. It’s free, and you’ll hear about new articles, classes, and events too. - -

When you make only withdrawals—no deposits—you eventually end up in overdraft. It works that way at the bank, with friendships—and with soil. And growing crop after crop in a garden is like making withdrawal after withdrawal. The crops use nutrients. Working the soil affects its structure. Amending soil is like putting money back into the bank. Soil amendments can improve soil structure, soil chemistry, and return nutrients to the soil. In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about practical ways home gardeners can improve soil quality with soil amendments. We discuss different types of manures, making compost, using leaves, wood chips, and common products such as bone meal, peat moss, and blood meal. If you’re looking for more on soil, check out this post about how and when to use wood ash in the garden.

More from Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

Oct 15, 2026

Get practical food-gardening ideas in your inbox with Food Garden Life News. It’s free, and you’ll hear about new articles, classes, and events too. - -

Aug 13, 2026

Get practical food-gardening ideas in your inbox with Food Garden Life News. It’s free, and you’ll hear about new articles, classes, and events too. - -

Aug 6, 2026

Get practical food-gardening ideas in your inbox with Food Garden Life News. It’s free, and you’ll hear about new articles, classes, and events too. - -

Jul 30, 2026

Get practical food-gardening ideas in your inbox with Food Garden Life News. It’s free, and you’ll hear about new articles, classes, and events too. - -

Jul 16, 2026

Get practical food-gardening ideas in your inbox with Food Garden Life News. It’s free, and you’ll hear about new articles, classes, and events too. - -

See all episodes →