Fall is a good time to think about soil testing. Be it for a garden, hay field, landscape or whatever, fall offers an opportunity to get the result back and plan for the next growing season. Spring is fine to, but the soils lab gets inundated with samples and the turn around time for printed results is generally longer than what one’s patience will allow for.
The University of Wyoming has a soil analysis laboratory in the Agriculture College on campus. The routine test includes PH, salts, organic matter, phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen, and texture. It costs $20 per sample. Your local Extension Office has the necessary forms and shipping information.
I like to take a bucket and shovel and dig down to get soil from the eight to twelve inch profile, along with the top soil and mix it in the bucket. Digging soil from five or six different spots in a 40 acre field is generally sufficient to get a base line sample. The more the soil varies, the more samples needed to get a representative sample. I suggest getting a base line sample from the given field and doing additional testing if the results warrant. The soils lab needs a good quart size bag of soil from that with- in the bucket.
