Soil test question

[bpgreen]

I've never gotten a soil test, in large part because I'm trying to encourage the native grasses, so I figure the native soil is best, anyway.

However, I also have a garden. I gave up on annuals after getting either 2 tomatoes and one pepper or the other way aound, and have let the garden be overtaken by blackberries. I've also got some hops and some fruit trees (also a maple tree, but I should really get rid if it since it's a bad choice for conditions here.

I know the soil test analysis done here is geared toward lawns. Would the same principles apply to the garden, the trees and the hops? I'd have to do 2 tests, since the garden soil looks like the soil I grew up with in Illinois and the lawn soil is still bsically yellow after more than 20 years of much mowing, mowing leaves, feeding with UCG and spent grains, etc.

I don't mid converting from thousands of square feet to dozens to treat the individual plants, but is it worth doing this, or are the requirements of my berries, plums, cherries, and hops too different from grass?

[andy10917]

BP, I would be honored to help you to improve the soil of your garden(s) - you may not remember, but you taught me (back in the GW days) all about not fighting the shade of large trees, and instead working differently inside the canopy of the trees. Back then I had all the science of soils down cold, but I was struggling with an approach that fought Mother Nature. Your advice back then transformed everything I do -the entire approach to integrated lawns and gardens. Now I have so many giant hostas (some that are 5 feet across) that I stopped counting at 700+ of them. In essence, you opened my eyes to embracing the conditions that Mother Nature offers).

So I owe you - big time!

Soooooooooooo...

Go and get a "Standard" Logan Labs test, but with one accommodation for gardens. Instead of the 4" soil test depth used for lawns, do it at the 6" depth. This will adjust for the deeper root system of plants. I'll do an interpretation that may involve some remediation work using some synthetics, but that's only to speed the process somewhat to be a couple of years instead of five or more years.

Now, here comes the one place where I disagree with your thinking, and it's your own lessons to me, all grown-up and fed back to you: I do not like to make little islands of modified soil inside of the larger context of the entire context of the garden soil - no "soil pockets" for individual plants. It doesn't work - where the modified soil touches the unmodified soil, I exaggerate and joke that there will be volcanoes and lava. Yeah, it's not true, but it's good as an illustration. It's all an extension of what your ideas were, worked into soil management.

I'm excited - let's get going! I'm looking forward to paying back my debt to you...

[bpgreen]

I don't remember that, but I'm guessing that I parroted some advice I got on the Rocky Mountain forum there. Somebody told me to stop fighting and start planting things that do well in my conditions.

What you say about the soil pockets makes perfect sense. I do make some soil pocket changes by drilling augur holes along the drip lines of my maple and pour in soil sulfur in a somewhat vain attempt to get the leaves to stop turning yellow. The "somewhat vain" part of my comment validates your comment. Any changes are temporary (and the sulfur creates sulfuric or sulfurous acid). As I said in my first post, I should probably kill it and plant something that's better adapted.

I'll get a couple of samples from around the lawn and mix them. And one from the garden.

I'm going to guess that the OM in the garden will be in the good range (or even better). And the lawn will likely be well below abysmal.

I follow a mostly organic approach ri gardening and lawn care, but I'm not a fanatic. I'm also open to using the humid acid to improve my soil, if I'm an appropriate candidate.

It's somewhat self evident that since I'm sampling at the 6 inch depth, it's going to take longer to see much change.

Thanks in advance!

[bpgreen]

It took me a month, but I finally got around to digging up some soil samples. I printed off the form and read the instructions, but didn't see anything about how to pay. Do I need to call them with my cc info, wil2 they call me for it, or do I need to try to find a check (I remember writing one a couple of years ago, but I don't know where they are)?

I'm actually slightly encouraged because the lawn samples are more of a light brown than the yellow I was expecting. So maybe 24 years of mulch mowing, ucg, spent grains, etc is paying off.

[ken-n-nancy]

It took me a month, but I finally got around to digging up some soil samples. I printed off the form and read the instructions, but didn't see anything about how to pay. Do I need to call them with my cc info, wil2 they call me for it, or do I need to try to find a check (I remember writing one a couple of years ago, but I don't know where they are)?

If you don't put any payment information with the sample, they will call you for payment before they test the sample. You can alternatively put a check in with the sample, or write down credit card information somewhere on the form. I've done each of these approaches over the years, depending upon what I thought was most convenient at the time.

Glad to hear that your soil samples at least look good!

[MorpheusPA]

Yeah, I forgot that once. One hears from them before the sample goes in the tester.

[coldlawn]

Logan Labs emailed me an invoice, I paid with Apple Pay, and then they quickly sent the results. Really easy.