Test Your Soil in the Fall
Author Ellen Vande Visse
Test your Soil In The Fall
Autumn is an Ideal Time
Get a jump on spring. Collect your soil in the autumn. Send it in to a soil testing lab just after harvest is done.
September is a great time to find out what nutrients your soil needs for the next growing season. Why?
You’ll avoid the potential longer wait of spring soil test results.
You have a jump on spring rush. Use the recommendations over the winter to calculate quantities & purchase the soil amendments you’ll need
Ta DA! You have your supplies ready to apply with no delay in the spring.
Here’s how to collect a sample.
Collect representative samples of your soil from several areas in the garden/field in a clean container. Mix well. Then extract 2 cups and place in a labeled Ziploc bag or a bag provided by your lab of choice. Be sure to state on the written form that you want recommendations for non-certified organic or sustainable growing. If you can, specify which organic fertilizers for NPK you’ll be using. (This website gives you a list of organic amendments available in South Central Alaska area.). See the post called
See the list of soil test labs that I recommend in posting called SOIL TESTING SERVICES