A Soil Test Is Your Road Map To The Perfect Garden For Less MoneyAdding nutrients without a soil test is like playing pin the tale on the donkey blindfolded. It is difficult to hit what you can’t see. You’ll not only get better gardening results, it will save you a lot of work and money. Your plants need certain plant nutrients and you must provide them. That means work and money. But a soil test will likely reveal that some are already present in abundance, while others are not. Soil Test ChoicesYour local Agricultural Extension office can test soil samples from your garden for a small fee. The first and most important test is to measure soil pH . Your results will also include recommendations for adjusting the pH level with either garden lime if low, or some sulfur application, such as gypsum or aluminum sulfate , if alkaline.Adjusting the pH will make nutrients more available, saving you work and money by reducing the need for fertilizers, and also help control plant disease or soil life attacks. The test will also tell you what macro and micronutrients are already present in the soil, and which are lacking. The results will also make fertilizer recommendations. There are also private soil labs in most areas that can offer similar results and recommendations. In my area, adding potassium is a waste of money. There is already a lifetime supply in our native soils. However, there is an iron deficiency. Iron is a necessary supplement in our local gardens. In your garden, analysis will reveal similar abundances and deficiencies, allowing you to spend your effort and money only where it is needed. So, if you are just starting to garden in a new site, get a complete analysis. While there are soil test kits available for home use, I recommend that you use a professional lab the first time so that you will have a competent baseline. Thereafter, a home test kit can keep you on track from year to year. Testing your soil pH is crucial at least annually. If you were a garden gnome, you could just taste the dirt and know the pH level. For humans, there are simple and cheap soil pH meters that are pretty accurate, and they give you an instant result in the garden. I recommend you get in the habit of using a soil pH tester at harvest time to see if you should make adjustments for the next crop. If you have a test kit, you can test for nutrients before planting a new crop, but that is optional if you use a balanced fertilizer or follow a well balanced organic gardening routine. It is sufficient to test only every several years to see that your soil is not getting out of balance. Happy gardening, Geefrank
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