Thanks for letting us know. My sister lives near Hartford, CT. I stayed with her for a year and her lawn didn't have dandelions like my alkaline clay soil.

It was easier to garden in her sandy loam soil. The experts are right about it's easier to fix acidic soil than to fix alkaline clay. I'm reading the book "The Encyclopedia of Roses". It features the largest rose gardens in the world. I don't see alkaline clay, but I see sandy-loam, and famous sandy gardens.

As far as I can tell, dandelions don't seem to be bothered by acid soil--there are some yards in our neighborhood that are overrun with them. We had plenty until they were organically evicted.

I'm new to the whole avid Rose thing. My past is mostly just winging it with Roses. How would i go about getting my soil tested, what is the benefit, and what do i do with the information?? THANKS

Welcome, Amy. It is a good idea to list your zone by your name so we can see where you are from.

In Oklahoma we go to the County Extension Agent. We found them through the Master Gardeners. If you google your Master Gardeners site, they can tell you how to do it, and where to take or send it.

Ours was very specific, and we could take it in. In our case we paid $10.00 for each sample.

Good luck.
Sammy

In Connecticut, we get them as part of our "free" government services. It does a great job of promoting their mission: to

"develop, advance, and disseminate scientific knowledge, improve agricultural productivity and environmental quality, protect plants, and enhance human health and well-being through research for the benefit of Connecticut residents and the nation."

as it gets people to use scientific methods. Also, Dr. Morgan, who invented the soil test, was the head of the soils department for 20 years. He was killed in action while serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1945.

A soil test will tell you the strengths and deficiencies of your soil--with the addition of plenty of composted leaves and grass clippings to our clay soil, we now have a nearly ideal soil for growing roses--sandy loam. Not surprisingly, roses grow vigorously in our yard. As expected, they need lots of nitrogen to fuel all that growth.

California is well known for having no such government service.