There it is in a nutshell: "You need to know your soil."

When you know your soil, you know it will take more of your sandy, rocky, thin-topsoil land to provide the same amount of food as the guy in the valley sitting on four feet of good topsoil.

Even on the gardening forums, I've noticed that many people don't/won't get their soil tested. They seem to be afraid that they won't understand the results, or they won't understand the suggestions, or that if they call and ask questions, the lab people will laugh at them. Step One: DON'T BE AFRAID!

Here's mine; they offered the overview in a comfortingly-familiar letter format:


Susan,
Here are the results of the soil testing you requested.

Organic matter: 15.6%. This is quite high. Organic matter provides water holding capacity and some slow release nutrients. Given your address, I'm assuming this is Rochester Grand Mound prairie. This soil (Spanaway complex) is gravelly with stable organic matter that tends not to release much in the way of nutrients. [Note: I think it is too high, probably due to my incorrectly collecting the sample.--Sue]

Phosphorus: At 57 ppm, you have plenty of phosphorus for this season. I like to see at least 30 ppm.

Potassium: at 63 ppm you you are a little low. I like to see potassium in the range 120-200 ppm.

Magnesium: at 73 ppm it is low in relation to calcium.

Calcium: at 992 ppm is moderate. Increasing the magnesium and calcium will improve the pH.

pH: at 5.8 this is moderately acidic. Most garden crops prefer near neutral conditions.

Nitrate nitrogen: at 3 ppm this is the limiting factor. You had virtually no available nitrogen at the time this sample was collected.

Sulfur: at 11 ppm is adequate for this season.

Nitrogen is definitely the limiting factor at this time. You need to apply 5 to 6 lbs of available nitrogen per 1000 sq ft of garden area. It is best to split your applications. Apply half at planting and the rest as the crop develops.

I would suggest that you plan to lime this garden with dolomite lime. If you haven't tilled the garden yet, you could till in about 150 lbs of dolomite lime per 1000 sq ft of garden. If you have, then wait until fall after the corps are off and till in lime for next year.

You need some additional potassium. You could use wood ash to improve the potassium level, or you could use a muriate of potash fertilizer. About 3 lbs of available potassium per 1000 sq ft annually until soil tests indicate levels in the 150-200 ppm range would be good.

I am enclosing some handout information on garden fertilization. If you have questions, give me a call at ###-####.


The next page was from the lab, with the levels and Cation Exchange Capacities (CEC). On the back of this page was the explanations of the various info in the report.

I borrowed the video from the library of Neal Kinsey's Hands-On Agronomy, and sat watching it with my soil report in my hand. Quite informative, and he is easy to understand.

Sue