Go the your county's Cooperative Extension Office, they will give you a sample box and a printed instruction sheet on how to collect the sample. Send the sample to Auburn (the address is on the sheet and box) with $7, and say what you will plant. They will tell you what you should add and how much of it. You will be told not only the chemical analysis but the pH of the soil. It's a good idea to get this done every few years.

If you are a college student then you may have soil testing available to you through the college at a slightly lower cost. Check with your cashiers office or Ag department.

I just had a test done and talked with the great folks at AU. The person I talked with on the phone recommended that I send in *two* cups of soil...the soil goes through like seven different stations of testing and two cups are easier for them to work with (they don't have to be so stingy with the soil between stations). I put mine in a zip-lock and mailed it in a box...a small FRB would probably work fine for a single 2-cup sample.

They can also deliver your report via email...I only live around 80-90 miles from them and I had my report back in something like two days (via email)...they tested and emailed the results the same day that they received the soil sample. They've got a form you can download and fill out to mail in with the sample. Read the back (2nd page) of the form for how to take the sample. Also they have calculators online where you can input your results and choose different fertilizers (organic types and petro-types) and also a calculator for figuring your liming rate. It can break it down to a small square-foot-garden or as large as you need. Great work they do up there and the lab is self-sustaining from the fees that they charge.

Here is the link to the test site: Auburn University Soil Lab . On the right-hand side of the webpage is the form to print out and also the calculators.

Best wishes.

Ed

PS... Either stick a label on the ziplock bag or print your name/address on the ziplock bag when you send it. Don't forget the $7. Make any comments that you want to on the form...I wouldn't write "Roll Tide!!!" or anything, though. ;)

Oops...and I just realized the OP posted his message almost two years ago. I hope the OP has gotten his soil test done by now. :) Sorry for the added noise.