+1 PSU. It doesn't really matter to me that Milo is down--it might finagle the organic matter a touch, and the iron a tad, but that doesn't matter. Logan doesn't test nitrogen, and any other test with N listed I'd simply ignore.

Visual differences between areas of the yard might indicate that you need a separate test, or if you've dug and the soil is noticeably different that would be a good indicator as well.

I've split my soil into two sections, but they're simply "lawn" and "garden," since the areas are treated differently and the chemistry diverged years ago.

Thank you both. From digging holes for plants and trees, it appears that the soil isn't much different front to back. The front lawn does slope down to the sidewalk. As far as I can tell it's silty soil with not much organic matter. Turns into a sloppy mess when wet but super hard when dry. The house was built on what used to be agricultural orchards so who knows what was dumped on it for years.

Orchard? We can look forward to imbalances in some of the minor elements, then, but fortunately those shouldn't matter. My place was ag land as well, which led to me wondering if I should open a manganese mine in the back yard...

It sounds like you can take one sample and be just fine.

I believe it was an almond or orange orchard at some point. I suspect magnesium will be high. Thank you.

Here is some of what I'm sending for testing. Should I let it dry before sending? Just watered yesterday. Definitely tougher to dig after the 6 inch mark.

I usually dig 15 different areas of the yard to get a good representation. And I take a spoonful from each area from about 4". Mix it together, take out rocks and such and send it. They say it doesn't need to be dry.

+1. I usually do let it dry if it's soaking wet, but damp certainly isn't a problem.

Thank you both. I look forward to reading a nice beak down of what my soil needs from Morpheuspa and others.

+1. I usually do let it dry if it's soaking wet, but damp certainly isn't a problem.

+10

I let it dry for one reason. Why pay extra to mail water?