You can use an at-home kit, or send out some soil to be professionally tested
When it comes to your plants, you can’t cheat. If you cut a corner, the results are going to be felt in your garden. Stressed plants that are susceptible to disease, produce less fruit and fruit that tastes less awesome. To make sure they are getting everything they need, from nutrients to water to fertilizer to sunlight and warmth, you just have to do the work. Every educated gardener will tell you to get your soil tested. Here are various ways you can get your soil right.
At-home testing offers limited information and imprecise results
The market is full of little testing kits that look just like pool testing kit s. Many of these tests don’t provide the best results. However, some tests will indicate whether your garden needs more nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium. This is important since some plants, like blueberries, have different needs from, say tomatoes.
This form of testing requires a lot of prep work. Get a series of disposable clear cups. Collect a sample from each area of your garden, place in the cup and label where the sample came from. Add water, stir really well and then set the cups someplace to allow the dirt to settle. At this point, each cup gives you enough water to test for each of the elements. Record the results. Take these results to your nursery for advice.
Professional soil testing provides clearer results and an action plan – at a cost
The most that any home kit will tell you is some basic information. What they won’t tell you is what trace minerals you need. Plants also need iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, and molybdenum. Home tests won’t tell you about these. Professional tests will tell you if there are heavy metals in the soil. At some point, you want to get your soil professionally tested.
The best place to find a testing location is your local extension office. They will have information on where to get your soil tested, and the testing location will tell you what preparation they need. Generally, you collect the soil from a few different locations, homogenize the same, and then sift it. A hori hori is a good tool to get a vertical slice of soil. Then just follow directions to send in your sample to the lab.
What to do with results of your soil test
Your local nursery or farm store can help you understand the results you get. They will be able to tell you precisely what amendments you need to correct your soil. However, to get a basic understanding, rather than a numerical score, you’ll see the results are represented by “yes,” “no” and “maybe”. Yes, amendments will increase yield, no, amendments won’t increase yield, or maybe, amendments might increase yield. They will give you this information for a long list of nutrients including the elements mentioned above. While it may seem like these elements exist in a vacuum, they interact with each other to produce what your plant needs.
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