This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the Level 1 badge in Gardening.
Knowledge of your soil is foundational to good gardening. Also, it’s interesting!
To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
- Investigate the texture and physical properties of your soil using the jar test
(example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7plpyBDNPJE ) - Investigate the living creatures in your soil. Take a shovelful of damp soil, place in a large, shallow, light-colored container, and find as many living creatures as you can. A magnifying glass or a microscope helps. Do your best to identify the creatures in a general sense (i.e. knowing that a creature is a millipede is enough, you don’t have to identify the exact species of millipede).
- Bonus if you wish, but not required: use a garden-store soil test kit to measure the pH and approximate NPK levels in your soil
- Bonus if you wish, but not required: send a soil sample to a lab for testing
- Record all the information you have discovered on paper or computer.
To document your completion of the BB, provide the following:
- Photo of your soil sample before the jar test
- Photo of the jar test after it has finished settling
- Photo of your soil sample in the container, before looking for creatures
- Several photos of creatures you found
- Photo of your information records.
Make a comment on this page and include the photos in the comment.
