The Best Time Of Year To Start Testing The Quality Of Your Soil

Failing to conduct a soil test is one of the biggest mistakes you may be making when preparing soil for your garden. A soil test gives you the information you need to improve your soil and provides nutrient recommendations for the next growing season. That's why fall is the best time to test your soil. You have plenty of time to amend and improve your soil before spring planting , as well as to choose plants that will grow well in your soil type. You'll also have several months to decide what fertilizers to use in the spring and plan for composting. Lastly, fall or late summer soil samples are a more accurate representation of the interaction between soil nutrients and plants than those taken in winter and spring. Ideally, you should test after you've harvested your crops at the end of the season.  

If you're sending your soil sample to a lab for testing, starting the process in the fall will also ensure you have results back early enough to make adjustments before the end of the year, since testing labs tend to be busier in the spring. You may even want to add soil testing to your list of gardening tasks to do in August to prepare for the end of the year, especially in colder climates, where it becomes increasingly difficult to collect samples as fall progresses and frost appears.

Soil testing is inexpensive, so you might even consider an occasional set of tests in both fall and spring, particularly to see how soil nitrogen levels change over the winter. This information can guide your fertilizer decisions, and both fall and spring provide the moist (not wet) soil ideal for soil samples. However, soil samples should be frost-free, and lingering spring frost in colder areas may deter sample collection. Spring tests also will not provide enough time to make major changes to the soil before planting, such as adjusting the pH.

If you're only going to test your soil once in a certain year, fall is the most ideal time. You may also find that fertilizer prices are lower in the fall. However, it's important to note that you can test your soil anytime the ground isn't frozen. Once you decide when to test your soil, the best plan is to lock yourself into testing at the same time of year every time you test, so you can make consistent comparisons from year to year. University extension services recommend testing every three to four years. If you've never tested your soil, or haven't tested for a long time, put this task on your ultimate fall to-do list for the garden of your dreams.