Soils Test Results

Remember how I mentioned that us four (aging boomer) veggie-growing newbies, all with too much time on our hands because we're "between jobs", couldn't just plop some seeds in the ground in the spring? No, we needed to do research, take classes, figure out ALL the rules, make diagrams, create Excel spreadsheets linking the range of possible first and last freeze dates to the exact moment those seeds should go in the ground, and where they should go into the ground taking into consideration the next 5 years crop rotations as well as the best and worst companion plants..and more, until we drove ourselves nearly mad.

All this isn't really slowing us down yet, since spring is not here. Well, I see crocuses blooming everywhere and the daffodils are getting close, yet it is still freezing at night, with the threat of more snow to come. Grover added a light bulb to the cold frame but he is still taking the plants into the house at night. Hopefully, it will start to warm up a bit by the end of this week.

Anyway, part of our research was to have our soils tested by a lab. We paid $47.50 (I'm keeping track of all this, as we are competing with "The $64 Tomato") for a soils test. We took carefully collected samples of our soil to Twiss Analytical, Inc. in nearby Poulsbo. The results are attached. Basically they show that our soil has plenty of nutrients, but that the pH is slightly more acidic than we might want for most vegetables. This can be remedied by adding lime. The $47.50 probably saved us money because we were poised to add some amendments that we do not need. The soils test results came with some other good information about how to amend the soil, which vegetables like what pH, etc. We think it was well worth doing. Although I will note that we could have just plopped our seeds in the ground without knowing, and been in the same place. But now we know. And we have something new to do: we're off to shop for lime.