Healthy gardens start with sensible soil testing | Home & Garden
URBANA — As the growing season wraps up and gardeners put vegetable beds to rest and clean and store tools for the winter, there is one task they may be forgetting.
Testing the soil’s nutrients can provide a better understanding of a garden’s health and save money in the long run.
Over time, soil fertility, pH, and even soil structure can change as nutrients are depleted. Testing soils will identify missing nutrients that can then be addressed as needed. Unless there is a specific issue being remedied, soil should be tested every three to five years.
Fall is a great time for gardeners to test since soil temperatures are still above 50 degrees and the growing season is slowing down. Any added organic matter will then decompose, and nutrients will filter into the soil over winter well before planting season.
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University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator Sarah Vogel says depending on the soil’s natural fertility and what is being grown in it, plants can perform well for years without needing fertilizer. While fertilization can help with plant vigor and vitality, experts recommend first establishing a need and purpose for fertilizer. Understanding soil nutrient concentrations before applying fertilizer is important in a sustainable landscape.
“If fertilizer is not necessary, why waste product and time applying it?” says Vogel. “Overfertilization can harm trees, shrubs, and even turfgrass especially during drought conditions.”
Excess fertilizer can also end up in waterways and lead to aquatic life and water quality issues.
A basic soil test will measure soil pH and organic matter as well as macronutrients such as phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, calcium, and magnesium. Nutrients are most readily available to plants when the soil pH is between 6.5 and 7 and most horticultural crops do well in the range of 6 to 6.8. Many soil testing labs will also measure amounts of micronutrients such as boron, copper, iron, or manganese.
“If you are concerned about soil contaminants, such as lead in an urban site, contact the soil lab about specific instructions and additional costs,” Vogel says.
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Since soil samples must represent an entire yard or garden, take several core samples from evenly distributed spots and then mix them together. Remove any roots, rocks, or twigs. Gardeners can use a soil probe, sharp spade, or trowel to gather soil, taking care to remove the same amount for each sample. If comparing soils, such as a seemingly fertile soil and one that does not produce well, take and test two separate samples.
Home soil test kits are widely variable and not recommended. There are several soil testing labs in Illinois. Labs vary in pricing and services, so call before mailing soil samples.
Many labs will provide interpretation of the soil test results upon request and Illinois Extension horticulture staff can provide further guidance. Locate a local county Extension office at go.illinois.edu/ExtensionOffice.
Along with soil testing, preventative plant care can reduce the need for not only fertilizers but herbicides and pesticides as well. Most healthy trees and shrubs do not need fertilizers once they are mature and native annuals and perennials are more suited to local soils than non-native species reducing the need for fertilizer. Established lawns benefit from cultural practices such as using disease-resistant varieties, soil aeration, over-seeding, and mowing at the correct height with sharp mower blades.
My Town: Clint Walker’s memories of Coles County as pulled from the archives
Cosmic Blue Comics
From the Nov. 22, 1992, Journal Gazette, this photo of Cosmic Blue Comics in Mattoon; where I spent virtually every Saturday afternoon for about two years. That small back room you see just off to the right of the Coca-Cola sign was where they kept the many, and I mean many, long-boxes of back issues. I still own my bagged copy of “Tales of the Beanworld” issue No. 1 that I found back there. Sadly, this location is now just a “greenspace”.
Mattoon Arcade
Pictured, Shelbyville’s Bob Murray from the June 2, 1982, Journal Gazette, displaying his dominance over the TRON arcade game at the “Carousel Time” arcade at the Cross County Mall, later to be the Aladdin’s Castle, soon thereafter to be not a thing anymore. I spent just about every Saturday at that arcade, perhaps with that exact same haircut. No overalls, though. I was more of an “Ocean Pacific” kind of kid.
Icenogle’s
Pictured, from the Nov. 28, 1988, Journal Gazette, Icenogle’s grocery store. Being from Cooks Mills, we didn’t often shop at Icenogle’s…but when we did, even as a kid, I knew it was the way a grocery store is supposed to be in a perfect world, and that’s not just because they had wood floors, comic books on the magazine rack, or plenty, and I mean plenty, of trading cards in wax packs.
Cooks Mills
I had long since moved away from Cooks Mills by the time this Showcase item about Adam’s Groceries ran in the June 13, 1998, Journal Gazette, but there was a time when I very well could have been one of those kids in that photo; for if it was summer, and you had a bike, and you lived in Cooks Mills, that’s where you ended up. At last report, they still had Tab in the Pepsi-branded cooler in the back. I’m seriously considering asking my money guy if I could afford to reopen this place.
Mister Music
Pictured, from the July 16, 1987, Journal Gazette, this ad for Mister Music, formerly located in the Cross County Mall. I wasn’t buying records at that age, but I would eventually, and that’s where it all went down. If you don’t think it sounds “cool” to hang out at a record store with your buddies on a Friday night, a piping-hot driver’s license fresh in your wallet, you’d be right. But it’s the best a geek like me could do. Wherever you are today, owners of Mister Music, please know that a Minutemen album I found in your cheap bin changed my life.
Sound Source Guitar Throw
Portrait of the author as a young man, about to throw a guitar through a target at that year’s Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest, from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette. Check out my grunge-era hoodie, and yes…look carefully, those are Air Jordans you see on my feet. Addendum: despite what the cutline says, I did not win a guitar.
Pictured, clipped from the online archives at JG-TC.com, a photo from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette of Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest winner, and current JG-TC staff writer, Clint Walker.
Vette’s
Here today, gone tomorrow, Vette’s Teen Club, from the June 20, 1991, Journal Gazette. I wasn’t “cool” enough to hang out at Vette’s back in it’s “heyday,” and by “cool enough” I mean, “not proficient enough in parking lot fights.” If only I could get a crack at it now.
FutureGen
FutureGen: The end of the beginning, and eventually, the beginning of the end, from the Dec. 19, 2007, JG-TC. I wish I had been paying more attention at the time. I probably should have been reading the newspaper.
