Soil Test!

I confess: I hadn't soil tested my garden in over 4 years. (yikes) Last year things didn't go so well, not only in my garden but in many gardens in this area. What a crazy wet year 2009 was. So, determined to turn over a new leaf (no pun intended) I collected soil samples (this process took a total of 7 minutes) and sent them in thinking to myself "I bet I need to lime". Guess what! my pH was actually in the 6.5 range in all my gardens! Now I'm a BIG proponent of 'lazy method' gardening, but had I chosen to take the 'lazy' way out I would have limed based on my hunch. My soil report had other surprises for me. My Phosphorus and Potassium (the last two numbers on the fertilizer bag) were above optimum. So the 'lazy' method of just throwing out some 13-13-13 fertilizer would be overkill and unnecessary as well as expensive.

So the take-home message? Soil test. It's free (in Arkansas), its fast, and it could save you $$.