Soil test translator
Turn a soil lab report into plain English: what’s low, what’s high, what to do, and what you don’t need to buy. pH, organic matter, salts, phosphorus, potassium and nitrate.
Copy the numbers from your soil test report. You don’t need all of them: leave blanks for anything your report doesn’t have. The translator explains each result and, just as usefully, tells you what you don’t need to buy.
Getting a soil test
Most state university extension services run soil tests for home gardeners at low cost, as do many private labs. Ask for a routine or garden test: it usually covers pH, organic matter, salts, phosphorus, potassium and often nitrate.
- Sample right. Take 10–15 small cores from across the area, 0–6 in deep for gardens and 0–4 in for lawns, mix them in a clean bucket, and send about two cups.
- Sample areas separately. A vegetable bed, a lawn and a shrub border are different soils with different needs.
- Every 3–4 years is enough for most gardens, unless you’re fixing a problem.
A soil test is the cheapest way to avoid buying fertilizer, compost or lime you don’t need.