Rain-soaked and weed-choked? It’s time to get back to soil basics.
I’m restoring my garden fertility after weeks of rain. This blog post is for farmers, gardeners, and homesteaders who want soil health growing right under their boots.
After a month or more of rain, our gardens have weeds coming in and plants washing out.
Learn how to craft fertility solutions on the homestead scale.
Whether you're grazing livestock, growing food for your family, or just trying to get your backyard to bounce back—this series is for you.
Grilled Tri-Tip Santa Maria Roasted Steak
"Laura, your ground beef is delicious. I made a goulash and the freshness jumped right out of the bowl! Nothing like it!”
~Nancy
Let’s get your yard looking good and enjoy nature’s beautiful growing season.
My garlic—usually so reliable—has yellowing tips just when it should be forming beautiful heads. After a month (or more) of rain, the soil is tired. Washed out. Hungry. And so are the plants.
Are you trying to grow something good?
Flowers for the table?
Your first snap peas, strawberries, or a tomato you can be proud of?
A yard that looks cared for?
But now, everything feels stuck. Weeds are thriving, and your best intentions might be drowning.
Here’s the thing: this challenge is actually an opportunity.
I’ve been diving deep into soil health—right here at SVTFarm.
What I’ve learned is already helping my garden grow and our pastures thrive.
I want to share that with you.
This post is the first in a new series on homestead fertility and soil health solutions.
Let’s rebuild fertility together. Let’s get your plants thriving again.
And let’s enjoy the earliest veggies, flowers, and beauty this season has to offer.
You're not behind. You're just one good growing decision away from a better garden.
Let’s dig in.
You and I can go:
⏱️ Minutes without air
💧 Days without water
🍽️ Weeks (maybe months) without food
But the soil?
It can’t go without care—and expect to keep giving.
That’s because soil isn’t just “dirt.” It’s alive. It’s the gut of your garden.
When it’s healthy, it:
🌍 Sustains life
🥕 Grows your food
💦 Stores water (just 1% organic matter holds 27,000 gallons per acre!)
🌫️ Regulates temperature and moisture
🌱 Filters pollution and creates beauty—in meadows, forests, and backyard gardens.
So yes—soil health is a big deal. And understanding how it works, you gain more insights than I can imagaine…alot more than plants.
Step 1: Help the Soil Breathe 🌬️
Let’s start with what healthy soil can look like.
If you cup your hands loosely like you’re holding a scoop of soil, imagine it’s made up of:
25% water
25% air
46% physical mineral particles (like sand, silt, and clay)
3–4% organic matter (like compost, roots, microbes, and decaying plant bits)
That balance gives soil its magic—it holds moisture and drains well, lets roots push through, and gives beneficial microbes and bugs room to work.
Moreover, increasing organic matter by keeping the soil covered, mulching, and having living roots for as long as possible slowly increases the buffering abilities of the soil and its water-holding capacity.
But when soil gets compacted—from heavy rain, foot traffic, tilling, or just time—it loses its air space down to 10% air or less.
🚫 That means:
Roots struggle to grow
Water pools or runs off
Microbes and soil life slow down—or disappear entirely
So before anything else, we need to open up the soil again.
My go-to tools for loosening compacted soil:
Shovel - a classic, useful tool
Broadfork – a hand tool that opens the soil without flipping it
Land Care Cooperative’s VT Ripsower – a one-pass implement for pasture work and larger areas to seed, apply homemade land and seed creams, and decompact the soil.
I’ve seen this firsthand:
Our pasture has been managed the same way since 2020—grazing, seeding, feeding, all of it. But the ripsower couldn’t get right along the old fence line. The plants are still shorter, slower, and thinner there. That’s the only difference.
💡 Moral of the story: Don’t underestimate the power of letting your soil breathe.
Step 2: Know What You’re Working With – Take a Soil Test 🧪
Before we can fix anything, we need to know what’s going on in the soil.
Specific soils behave differently and contain various components whose availability is subject to pH (percent Hydrogen) measurements.
Clay soils, for example, have tiny, flat particles that hold onto water and nutrients but are prone to compaction. Sandy soils drain fast but don’t hold nutrients well. And silt is a blend in between.
Knowing your soil’s makeup—and what nutrients it has or lacks—is the key to creating your own homestead fertility "recipe."
How to Take a Soil Test
You’ll need:
✅ A clean bucket
✅ A spade or soil probe
✅ A plastic bag
✅ A marker or label
✅ Soil Lab testing service
Gather representative samples zig-zagging across the test area, collecting at least 10 samples at a uniform depth - I use 6 inches.
Blend all the samples, remove stones, roots, and other debris, and pack 2 cups of soil into a plastic bag labeled with your name, the date, and the test location.
Only combine samples from areas that are managed the same. At SVTFarm, I test the garden and pasture separately because they have different histories and conditions.
Fill out your soil sample request form and send it off in the mail.
I use Logan Lab with recommendations from Bill “the Crop Doc” McKibben and his team. https://www.loganlabs.com/send-a-sample
When you receive your results, address deficiencies per recommendations. We’ll dive into this next time with my homebrew experience.
Don’t skip the recommendations! The measurements alone don’t provide an action plan unless you do the chemistry and math to create one. The calculations are complicated, interrelated, and time-consuming.
Today, technology and agronomists can provide inexpensive recommendations quickly. It’s really important, so just do it.
✅ Correct fertility means better plant growth, stronger roots, less disease, and more beauty at your place.
While You Wait: Get to Know Your Soil with Your Senses 🧤
While your sample’s off to the lab, there’s still a lot you can learn—observing with your eyes, hands, and nose.
Let’s do a little backyard detective work.
👀 Look at it
What color is your soil?
Dark, chocolatey brown often means lots of organic matter. Pale or gray? That might mean poor drainage or low fertility.
✋ Feel it
Rub some moist soil between your thumb and forefinger.
This is called the ribbon test:Does it feel gritty? That’s sand.
Silky? That’s silt.
Sticky and smooth? That’s clay.
Try to roll it into a little ribbon—how long does it get before it breaks?
Less than 1 inch = sandy
1–2 inches = loamy
2+ inches = clay-heavy
👃 Smell it
Healthy soil has a rich, earthy smell—like the forest floor.
Sour or chemical smells may indicate compaction, poor drainage, or imbalances.
Bland or neutral- low biological activity could be possible
🧪 Try the “Jar Test” to See Your Soil Layers
This classic DIY test helps you visually separate and identify how much sand, silt, and clay your soil contains.
You’ll need:
1 cup of your soil (with roots, rocks, and bugs removed)
2 cups of water
1 tsp dish detergent
A clear quart-sized mason jar with a lid
A marker
Steps:
Add the soil, water, and dish soap to the jar.
Shake it hard for 2–3 minutes.
Let it sit upright and still.
Now, watch the magic happen:
After 2 minutes, mark the bottom layer = sand
After 2 hours, mark the next layer = silt
After 24–48 hours, once it’s fully settled, mark the top layer = clay
Measure each layer and divide by the total height to get the percentage of each.
You can use these percentages to identify your soil type (like loam, sandy clay, or silty loam) using a soil texture triangle.
🖥 Here’s a link to a Soil Texture Triangle Calculator https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/soil-texture-analysis-the-jar-test/
I’m Laura Burch—woman farmer, mom, and soil health advocate—
and I’m healing land with livestock and growing resilience from the ground up.
I stand gratefully on the shoulders of scientists, neighbors, and land stewards who’ve helped me shape our farm’s journey, including the generous team at LandWEB, the founding farms of the Land Care Cooperative, Vermont Grass Farmers Association, and natural resource enthusiasts at Rutland County NRCS, Poultney-Mettowee Conservation District, and the Vermont Association of Conservation Districts.
This post isn’t a deep dive into Environmental Biophysics—it’s a hands-in-the-dirt guide to help you build better soil right where you are.
Because healthy soil grows more than food—it grows beauty, connection, and hope.
—Laura
Soil health isn’t about being perfect—it’s about paying attention and making small shifts that add up.
Next week, I’ll share the first steps to rebuild fertility and feed your plants naturally, even after heavy rain.
👉 Want to make sure you don’t miss it?