How Many Soil Tests Do I Need For My Property?

At MySoil we often get the question “How many soil tests do I need? Do I need one for the front yard, side yard and backyard? Do I need one for each of my four raised beds? Do I need one every year?” I’ll answer this question in a few different ways first, then dive into my soil testing program at our new property.

Simple Answer 1: You should soil test each area that you want specific guidance on.

Test each distinct area such as lawns, vegetable gardens, flower beds, orchards, and wildlife food plots separately. Group like areas (front yard and back yard) together if you will fertilize and amend them the same way.

Simple Answer 2: You should sample areas separately that you are willing and planning to fertilize and amend differently.

It may be interesting to see the difference between the front and back yards, but if you aren’t willing to fertilize and amend them differently, then I save on a soil test and combine the areas.

Simple Answer 3: You should sample to compare good vs. bad performing areas to see if soil fertility or pH is the reason for the poor, or excellent, performance.

MySoil tests are one of my go to diagnostic tools once I’ve eliminated obvious reasons for poor plant health such as differences in irrigation coverage, obvious pest damage, or other damage that can be attributed people, pets, pests, or the environment.

My Property and Soil Testing Strategy

Everyone has a different opinion, but this is a look at my soil testing strategies and how I use them to guide my fertilizer and amendment choices. Here is a graphical depiction of our 10-acre property that we manage.

Overview of our Property:

We have both a front and back lawn on similar soil, although the back lawn had some grade work done. The maintained lawn area is quite large, and I opt to treat the lawn areas the same in terms of maintenance. I do not have underground or automated irrigation, so I do have the need to drag hoses and sprinklers when mother nature doesn’t supply enough moisture, or when I need to water in fertilizer. We also have three brand new raised beds. These beds were filled with the same soil, and I opt to treat all of them the same in regard to fertility as well. We have a low input dryland ‘pasture’ that is maintained primarily for wildlife habitat, we also have a wildlife food plot that gets direct seeded annually in the Spring. We have a native soil berry patch that is a mix of raspberries and thornless blackberries. The last cultivated area is a small orchard that consists of old, mature, apples, pears, and cherries. So, how many tests do I use and how often?

Lawn: Combine front and back lawn – one sample – spring

Raised Bed Garden: Combine subsamples from each bed – one sample – spring and fall

Pasture: subsamples from throughout the acreage – one sample – Spring of every third year

Wildlife Food Plot: subsamples from throughout the acreage – one sample – Spring of odd years

Native Soil Garden/Berries: subsamples from throughout the patch – one sample – Spring

Orchard: subsamples from throughout the orchard – one sample – Spring

So how many soil tests am I using annually to guide my fertilization on six unique areas across ten acres?

Year 1: 7 soil tests

Year 2: 5 soil tests

Year 3: 6 soil tests

Year 4: 7 soil tests

Is there a time or situation that I would further change the number of soil tests used annually? Absolutely. I do like to start with a plan, as I’ve outlined above, but it’s important to be nimble and willing to deviate from the plan. If I’ve been on the same fertilizer program for a given area for years and have seen my soil test move only slightly or have realized that I can maintain fertility in near optimal levels without over applying any nutrients I may skip a year. In mature gardens that have been cultured properly for years or decades with consistently high-quality food that is in abundance I may also be compelled to skip a year. I’ll also add soil tests if I want to compare two areas that are performing differently, if I want to more closely monitor pH adjustments over time, or if I want to perform a soil test as some other form of diagnostic tool.

So, how many tests should you start with? Start with one per use area that you would like guidance on and then adjust as you want or feel necessary from that starting point.