This soil looks great but how well will plants grow?
My soil certainly looked good; rich brown, crumbly with a nice loamy smell but what was really there?
Do I have lead in my soil? Does it have nutrients to grow healthy plants?
This year I finally got my trowel out, shot out of the house on a cold February day and dug up samples from several of my raised beds. Once back inside I mixed the soil together then wrote a 10 dollar check, completed the soil testing lab order sheet, dropped the bag in a box and shipped it off to the University of Massachusetts. You can also get free testing by King County. While they don’t test for contaminants they do test for Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Sodium, Sulfur, Organic Matter, pH, and Cation Exchange Capacity. They will give you feedback on your soil and give suggestions on what you can do to promote healthy plant growth. If you live in the Asarco plume zone you can get free testing that does include contaminants.
Waiting for the results was kind of like waiting for medical lab tests to come back. I agonized–would my soil be healthy? After a couple of weeks I got an e-mail with the joyful results that there was no lead or other harmful things and lots of nutrients to help the plants grow. If I’d known it was this simple I would have done it years ago.
Before you start growing edibles in your backyard, be sure to get your soil tested; it will put your mind at ease!
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