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Originally Posted by barry12345
I do not know about The United States but most provinces in Canada offer free soil testing. I think it is a good thing for gardeners to have done.
Sometimes a small addition of some sort can make a major differance to the growing ability. These soil testing places are usually set up by governments to assist farmers.
For some reason my parents encouraged me to plant small gardens when very young.Results where so so until I found out how to improve soils. In general.
I live in a class two soil area now. Cheap ground limestone powder treatment gets the PH of the soil into much better shape than otherwise here. Since soil even in a class two area will vary. Soil testing especially free is a good ideal first.
Some municipalities also give away well rotted compost but it is usually very heavy. Generally almost any soil can stand improvement.
There is no comparison to how a garden performs on average soil compared to really good soil.On a small home garden it usually is pretty inexpensive to modify the soil as needed.
We have not planted a garden in forty five years. The wife has been lightly agitating for a raised garden at the beach. I will try to get it together this year.
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The "compost" our town gives away is pretty crappy stuff, lots of plastic and detritus mixed in (they still vacuum up leaves curbside so some litter invariably gets into it). Ideally you have to dig in deep and screen it to make it worthwhile. Some municipalities do offer some nice stuff, mine just isn't one of them.
Most state extension services/ag experiment stations here offer soil testing for free or very little money. I recommend it to every customer that comes through our door, whether they're a garden or a lawn customer. Homeowner or lawn care operator.
Some random person comes in off the street and asks how much pelletized lime do I need for my lawn? Knowing our soils are naturally acidic, I tell them at miminum 50 lbs. per 1,000 sq.ft. if they need to change the pH but it could be anywhere from 25 lbs.-175 lbs. A soil test will tell them exactly how much.
It takes all of the guess work out of soil management. In addition to pH levels, the test results will let you know what nutrients are deficient and which ones are already at adequate levels eliminating the application of unneeded fertilizer components (saves money and better for the environment).