| You'll often hear garden writers recommending the | | | | increase the organic matter content of the soil so it |
| use of Epsom salts in the garden as a general rule. | | | | is less sandy. Lime make soils less acidic and you'll |
| First off, I'm not one of those writers. Secondly, | | | | need a soil test to tell you how much to add while |
| Epsom salts are essentially magnesium so if your | | | | compost is the key to solving organic matter |
| garden soil is magnesium starved, adding the Epsom | | | | problems. |
| salts will seemingly work miracles. If your soil is not | | | | The single best thing you can do and the quickest |
| magnesium starved, adding Epsom salts is a waste of | | | | way to improve your garden's performance no |
| time, effort and money. | | | | matter your soil type or problem is to add copious |
| A magnesium deficiency is often a problem when the | | | | amounts of compost. The old time gardeners used to |
| soil is acidic or composed mostly of sand. So if your | | | | use two to four pounds per square foot of |
| soil is acidic because you've been heavily feeding with | | | | composted manure. That translates into one quarter |
| chemical fertilizer or if you are in a housing | | | | to one half inches thick in our modern gardens. Your |
| development where sand is the rule rather than | | | | plants will grow bigger and faster and the blooms and |
| decent topsoil, you may need to add magnesium to | | | | fruit will be bigger and healthier. You can get other |
| boost plant performance. So a short term solution is | | | | vegetable gardening tips here. |
| to add some Epsom salts but the long term solution | | | | So forget the Epsom salts and pour on the compost |
| is to modify the soil pH so that it is less acidic and | | | | for best plant performance. And more is better. |