Nancy gave me a soil testing kit for my garden two Christmases ago, but like most things with more than one page of instructions, it went directly to the basement to spend its life waiting for someone who didn’t flunk Organic Chemistry in college.
My son Jimmie was home last weekend, dug up the kit and tested the soil in my garden. It turns out the soil was slightly acidic, and the nitrogen and phosphate levels were almost non-existent. It’s a wonder I had any vegetables at all last year. I will soon spread some lime, add a little 10-20-10 fertilizer and hope for a good crop this summer.
The experts recommend about 2 to 3 pounds of fertilizer for every 100 square feet of garden area. A plot 10 x 10 feet (or 5 x 20 feet) would be 100 square feet. If a garden is 30 feet long and the rows are 3 feet apart, each row is almost 100 square feet. They say to use 2 pounds of fertilizer if the garden is sandy and 3 pounds if the soil is mostly clay.
Soil can be tested in late winter (now) to prepare for spring planting. County Extension agents can give you a soil sample container and explain where to send the sample for testing, or you can get lots of information from one of these kits. They cost less than five bucks and tell you the acidity of the soil, plus any need for nitrogen, phosphorous and potash. Best of all, you don’t need a BS in Chemistry, assuming you have a son to come home and do it for you.