During my master gardener training, one thing that was really drilled in was testing your soil. Gardening without knowing your soil condition is like baking a cake without a recipe - you might get one but how good will it be? Gardening is about nourishing the soil and then the soil grows the plants so you need to know where you are.

It only needs to be done every 2-3 years as the nutrients except nitrogen change slowly over time (annually if you're trying to change - until stable). I highly recommend a professional test - vs a amateur kit - as it will be accurate, reliable and tell you what to do for correction.

The basic test is for pH, phosphorous, and potassium. ($6 in Tenn). Nitrogen is generally not tested because it changes so rapidly over time - leaves the soil in 2 -3 months, so you know you'll need to add N.

For a first time test, I would test the micro nutrients as well (about $20 for me) then only occasionally unless you are working to change something.

I test mine in early fall then make any soil amendments (compost, etc) so they'll have all winter to distribute throughout the soil. Then in spring, I only need to add nitrogen because I know where the other stuff is at.

My first test after I realized I needed to do it showed a pH of 7.4 (should be 6-6.8 for veggies) due to applications of lime to kill moss, and P and K were both superhigh and micros were ok. Without knowing this, I might have continued adding these three which could stop production from too high pH and would waste money on the other elements.

If you are serious about growing a top quality garden, you'll want to do this. The kits are available from your county extension agent and they generally have them stationed at other gardening locals around your county. They will tell you how to sample or most have a website with instructions. One of the best learnings from my training was the existence of the extension websites and the wealth of info. Just do a search with your state name followed by extension eg - tennessee extension.