The First Salvo of the Challenge Fired: Soil pH map of my plots

While the garden is still lying fallow I've got to write about something. Recently I took 21 soil samples in a grid pattern across my three plots and measured the pH (10 grams of dried soil in 50mls of distilled water, measured using a pH meter).

Here's the results (click on the image to enlarge).

Really interesting that the pH varies so much across the plots. This is probably due to the different types of organic material that I have used over the years, and that I have imported organic loam into only parts of the plot. I used a lot of mushroom compost in the western plot about 3 years ago, and imported loam into the middle plot. The eastern plot is more natural in that Ive only used relatively small amounts of organic matter there.

Good news though. The pH of the eastern plot is perfect for tomatoes - and its that plots turn this year.