oooooops! sawwy Now I know..

Thanks Kimm. I've considered different options about testing the ph, including the home kits or the ph monitors with probes. I wasn't aware of their unreliability, so maybe that's not a viable option. Has anybody used these or the strip versions?
What I have done so far was the old dirt in a jar with water and salt, shake and let settle test. It had about 80% sand, and 10% each of silt and clay.
I'll take a look at the soil testing available and contact our county agent for details and/or to see if he has a general idea of what the soil is typically like in our area.

I recommend some research before buying a chipper-shredder for pine needles. My experience has been that the two are non-compatible. The only thing I've seen work for pine needles is the leaf mulcher http://public.fotki.com/DirtPit/gardening/composting_tr...leafs_04_112602.html

Dirt

Litmus paper can give you a general idea of what your soils pH is, if you know the proper range to buy, but the best way to know what your soils pH is, why it is what it is, and what to do to correct it for what you want is to have CSU do the test.

I thought about a leaf shredder but the needles are also filled with sticks and twigs that would take forever to separate out. I'm going to start by just mowing them over and see how fine I can get them. The shredder I was thinking of was one of the small electric models. I simply can't afford one of the bigger gas-powered ones, and there are tons of small branches that need getting rid of too.

I've added some shredded paper, and just now added a bunch of horse manure. The pile is about 4 foot at the base by two foot high now. I'll be hacking dried wild grass pretty soon (some of it's three foot high, just need to let the seeds drop off) and adding that as well. I expect a month from now the pile will be at least twice as big.
The gal I got the manure from is an old friend here in Parker. She showed me her garden, and parts of it are doing well, but she kept talking about needing to spray chemical this and chemical that on the stuff that wasn't doing well. I told her I didn't want to hear that. She said "no, I'm not organic like you."
She said she had to pay someone to come in and haul the manure away too; I think I'll go back a few times for free; what a deal.
I mowed the pine needles over and it sorta worked, but I'm still thinking about getting a shredder. I'll just keep an eye on the want ads and yard sales.
I planted a small row of Mustard Greens last week and they're peaking up through the soil now. Added some more spinach but that's not up yet.
The pole beans are starting to flower and the peas are gettin' fatter. I got this garden started a bit late, but for the most part, it's coming along fine.
I'm in the last two weeks of school; finals are here. Get a couple of weeks off and then grad school starts, but it's all late afternoon and evening classes, so I'll still be in the garden. Pretty soon I'll start breaking ground on the expansion to at least double the size of this year's garden for next year and all that compost sitting out there now will be put to work.

There's now trend in restaurant composting grand rapids mi. I think it's about time, it's such a excellent idea.

Trin, save yourself ALOT of work. Read up on lasagna gardening...it's simple and works well..
I use pine needles over cardboard in paths between the beds...they can be slippery if you're not paying attention. I mow and vac pine needles and leaves together and pile on my beds along with manure and compost in place.
As Kim stated., the needles do little as far as ph goes but they make wonderful compost!
Another gardener puts leaves into a garbage can and weed whacks them up ..why not the needles?
Don't bother purchasing a chipper the pieces escape. Welcome to. The forums.