Class! Pay Attention. Today we’re going to take a test. But don’t worry, it’s an easy test and I’m sure you’ll all pass.
There are a number of things that we do in our yard: we fertilize it, we apply lime, we plant new trees and shrubs and we do it without taking a soil test. Now to take this test you’ll need to rent or borrow one of these from your local extension service.
It’s a soil test probe and it works like this: simply press it into the soil to a depth of six to ten inches and pull out a nice core of your lawn. But one core is insufficient.
What we want is eight or ten cores pulled form the entire yard so that we have a good representative sample and then, when we have enough, we’ll mix them all together and take them to the extension service. Where, for a cost of $9.00 to $15.00, they’ll analyze it and tell you about your nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, pH, cation exchange capacity, all sorts of things that are useful information for you.
Now, when you take it in, be sure to tell them what you’re going to be growing in this soil. In this case, we’re growing a lawn. But the soil test recommendations that they’ll make would be different for a blueberry patch or a vegetable garden.
To Take A Soil Sample You Should…
- Borrow a soil test probe from your extension office
- Press the probe into the soil to a depth of six to ten inches
- Pull eight to ten cores from your entire site
- Tell the extension office what you’ll be growing