Welcome back to the Beginners Garden Podcast. I have another special guest for you today.

You guys, I'm so excited about sharing this conversation with you. You know from the very beginning

of my gardening journey, I have put a priority on testing my soil when necessary, whether that was

for my ground bed, the very very first year or even last year

noticing that there was a row that didn't quite perform like I thought it should or maybe

a couple of different raised beds. One had fabulous tomatoes and one did not. I'm a big proponent

of testing your soil to see what is actually going on.

But the problem is, the more that I have tested my soil and have looked at the soil test results

and the more that you all have given me feedback on your own soil test, there was just a little

bit of a gap because I am not a scientist and I never took chemistry,

not even in high school. So I cannot begin to help you understand what your soil test means

because there's a lot of science there that if you're not familiar with it, it's a whole other

language. Well, today on the podcast, we're bringing on Joey Aikins. He is a

soil scientist. He's got a master's degree in crop and soil science from Auburn University.

And he currently works for Penn State as a field and forage crops agronomist. He has been able to break down this very complex

topic into a conversation that no matter your background, you'll be able to understand. Now,

it does go into some detail in some of these questions that if you're kind of a sciencey person,

you'll be able to track right with him.

But more importantly, there are some really good suggestions that he gives and some

explanations that he gives that blew my mind.

I'd never had anyone explain things so easily to me where I can understand it.

Someone not having an earth science background.

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