If you have decided to get your soil tested at a Soil Testing Laboratory, you are going to want to give the facility a good sample of your soil. The better the sample the more accurate the lab’s report will be. An accurate lab report will give you a better understanding of your soil and provide you with proper information when you make nutrient and pH adjustments when doing site preparations.

When Should I Test My Soil?

A soil test can be taken any time throughout the year. We recommended in our article 3 Steps to Prepare your New Garden Site to test your soil prior to planting in order to give enough time for corrections to be made. Two months prior is more than enough, taking a sample to early may lead to inaccuracy due to shifting levels of nutrients and pH over time. I also recommend soil testing your vegetable garden at least once a year in order to keep a close eye on your garden.

Where Should I Sample?

Each soil sample should represent only one soil type or soil condition. If your soil is different in composition in multiple locations, use a different sample for each. Different soil samples should also be taken based on how they were up kept. A selection that was a previous part of a weekly moved lawn should be sampled differently than an overgrown section. To get a report on a general area within each soil type you can take composite sample. A composite sample will give you a more representative reading on the area by taking the multiple samples. Taking 10 or more samples in a zigzag like pattern will give you the best results. The more samples you take, the more representative your sample will be of your garden.

How to Take a Sample

Now that know when and where we should take a sample from it is time to start getting into how to take a good quality sample.

Dig the appropriate length. When sampling for a vegetable garden we will want to take samples from as deep as we plan on tilling or cultivating. This is usually between 6 – 8 inches in depth. To take a sample us a clean soil probe, spade, hand garden trowel, or shovel to collect samples. Brass, bronze and other galvanized tools should not be used when taking a soil sample, due to copper or zinc contamination.

Remove any physical contaminates. Physical objects such as grass or rocks should be removed.

Mix sample cores well. When mixing together sure to use a clean, preferably plastic, bucket and that fertilizer and other chemicals have been washed out. Also make sure not to mix together samples from different unique locations.

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