By Ebony Martin

Growing up farming, I always thought it was as simple as putting the seed in the soil and waiting for the harvest. The adults always handled the fertilizing and understood what worked with the land.  When I was age 12, my mom decided she wanted an orchard. We planted pecan, plum, pear, fig, apple, and peach trees. Some did better than others. It didn’t matter how well we would water or fertilize. Now, as an adult, wanting an orchard in the city, in clay soil, I realized that the 22-year-old pecan tree just now starting to grow lacks the nutrients needed for the type of soil it’s planted in. The front two acres have three different types of soil: clay, sandy, and black soil.  The soil testing explained why the pear tree planted in black soil across from the pecan tree grew without problem.

I was planting my mini orchard in the city. I wanted to understand planting better. Why was one peach tree in my orchard growing and another not? I took the Master Gardeners class, where I learned about soil testing. I had my soil tested to find out what was needed for my clay soil. I needed nitrogen everywhere. It explained why my blueberry trees, cherry trees, fig-trees, and grapes weren’t producing as much if anything at all.

Everything I planted in a raised bed with bagged soil grew without much interference from me. It explained why the tree fertilizer sticks I bought, specific to the tree type, didn’t seem to help. It wasn’t a product issue; it was me, my lack of understanding and having the fundamental baseline to produce.  Spending ten dollars has done more for my trees than the hundreds of dollars I spent on fertilizers. Now I have information on how to raise the nutrient levels for every fruit tree I have planted in my backyard.

Ebony Martin, an intern in the 2024 Master Gardener Class. For more information on becoming a master gardener, visit www.capcitymga.org or email capcitymga@gmail.com