How to Test Your Soil
Do some of your plants seem to be underperforming? Or maybe one area of your garden tends to struggle no matter what plants you put there? You could have a soil problem. Too little of certain key nutrients or too much of others can cause problems in your garden. Some issues you may be able to diagnose from looking at the results in your plants, but others are harder to figure out. The best way to make sure your garden gets off on the right foot is to test your soil. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are three options for how to test your soil. Pick the one that works best for you!
Self Testing
Soil testing is something you may need to do regularly in your garden. So learning how to test your soil yourself could make sense. This allows you to test whenever you need to and not worry about waiting for the results or having to pay per-test costs. Most home soil analyzers aren’t going to give you as detailed results as sending a soil sample to a lab, but the convenience and ability to get real time data can be really useful.
A soil analyzer usually has a probe that you stick into your soil that measures acidity(pH), moisture, and light. There are also probe analyzers that can measure fertility (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium or NPK) or there are test kits with tubes and solutions to measure pH, NPK and other soil chemicals. The analyzers or kits range from a few dollars to over a hundred dollars, but most can be reused multiple times.
Hire Someone
If you aren’t confident in your own testing skills, or the limited results of a home test aren’t solving your soil problems, you can hire a testing company to test your soil for you. Most of the testing companies offer free shipping of your soil sample and it takes between 1-2 weeks to get the results. The labs usually provide a lot more data than the at home test kits. But some also offer customized nutrient plans to help you figure out how to fix any deficiencies that the test results show.
The costs for each test kit is usually pretty reasonable from $10-$50, but if you need multiple areas of your garden tested multiple times, it can add up quickly. There are different tests for gardens, lawns, and soil contamination. Pick the one that fits with what you need to know about your soil, not just the cheapest option.
There are also companies that will come out to your property and test your soil. Many of them are more used to doing testing in large farm fields, but they can do gardens as well. There is usually a per sample cost, but the cost to have a tester come out is usually the bigger chunk of the price. Again, making sure the tester knows how you plan to use the space is key to getting good results. Different crops require different nutrients.
Free Testing
The last option for how to test your soil is to take advantage of free soil testing resources in your area. Some county extension services offer free soil tests for their county or state. Others offer free soil testing events at certain times of year. There are also soil testing labs that will offer the first test free or other incentives to get new customers.
You can also test certain things about your soil yourself for free. Like soil composition, where you use the “jar” test. You fill a straight sided jar, like a Mason jar or peanut butter container about 1/3 of the way up with soil from 6-10 inches below the surface of your garden. Then fill to an inch or two below the lid with water. Shake the jar vigorously for 3 minutes, then set the jar down and start a timer. After 1 minute measure the amount of sediment at the bottom (this is the sand content). Then measure again after 4 more minutes, the difference is the silt content. Let the jar sit for 24 hours and the final layer is the clay content. You can get your percentage of each component by dividing the total height of the soil by each layer’s thickness.
You can also do a “pantry pH” test to see if your soil is more acidic or alkaline (basic). Take 2 tablespoons of soil and add a 1/2 cup of vinegar. If it fizzes, you have alkaline soil. Then, take a different 2 tablespoons of soil and add distilled water, then add 1/2 cup of baking soda. If this mixture fizzes you have acidic soil. If your soil doesn’t react to vinegar or baking soda it’s probably pretty neutral in pH.
The last “free soil test” is to check for worms in the spring once the soil has warmed up. If your soil is healthy and has enough organic matter, you should find about 10 earthworms per cubic foot of soil. If you don’t find many, try adding more organic matter like compost to encourage them to come make your garden their new home.
Want to learn more ways your county extension service can help you in your garden? Check out my blog post Top 5 Benefits of Your County Extension Service. You might be missing out on some great stuff!
Ready to get started gardening right away? One of the best ways to learn is with a container garden. Check out my Crazy Easy Containers guide today.
