Writer Eve Kelley of the San Diego Reader contacted UC Cooperative Extension horticulture advisor Vincent Lazaneo when she was bent on a conducting a soil text to diagnose her garden failure. “When someone tells me they want to have their soil tested, I first ask, ‘Why?’” Lazaneo said. The UC advisor suggested some alternate approaches for getting a garden to grow, gave reasons gardeners would resort to a soil test and explained how to collect samples.
If you decide to submit your sample to a lab, Lazaneo told the reporter, “Make sure they will provide an interpretation of the results. A number, just by itself, doesn’t really tell you anything. It can vary, depending on what substance the lab used to extract the various nutrients from the soil.”
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Instead of a soil test, it might be cheaper to just add a little fertilizer and compost to the soil to help improve plant performance.