It might lower it "some." But not over the long haul. Organic matter will buffer it some over the long haul. Also, meals such as feather and cottonseed are more slow release than blood. If you're looking to lower it significantly, sulfur is the way to go. Btw, I'm not sure how accurate the rapitest is for N. For ph, it's pretty reliable. Also, N for summer crops isn't as crucial as for the leafy veggies in the cooler months. Except for onions. I'm not saying it isn't important, but too many people add high doses of N and get wonderfully looking tomato plants, but production is below par. Kevin

Here is a link. Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Test

Thanks for the responses - that's exactly what I wanted to hear! :) Compost is king. I'm still curious to know exactly what will change in my soil test, but I guess the factor of nutrient release over time will make that difficult to determine. I'll probably still test again in the fall, but at that point my plants will also have used some nutrients from the garden, so determining the specific effect of the compost will be difficult. gumby: the specific soil I tested was converted from lawn last July/August, and had a largely unsuccessful fall garden attempt grown in it. That's all. (this year I made the plot bigger.) I think my pH is the 6.1 number. I'm not too worried about the compost being more than leaves/grass/yard waste and the occasional red bull can because that's what I can see in the less finished bits, and my town is pretty small so I believe the guy in charge is telling me the truth about the components. I still might get it tested at some point, just out of curiousity, but I certainly believe its worth the price! gumby and takadi: you guys are worrying me. Is there something strange/unusual/wrong about my test results? I got it done through Peaceful Valley Farm Supply; they use a lab in California. I now realize it was a bit overly expensive, but I was ordering from them anyway. Thanks again, everyone, ~Emily Here is a link that might be useful: PVFS Soil Test

@becky: Good point! I should just boilerplate a disclaimer up top. In some cases, I'm slamming the grass with N. In others, nothing... >>Because the soil was so hard; I thought it may be a heavy clay based soil. So I had the irrigation system programmed to water the lawn every third day applying a half inch of water at a time to eliminate run-off. (So much for what I know!! ) Is the half inch at a time schedule okay? Or do you think the lawn may require more than 1" of water per week? If so; what would you suggest as a watering schedule? I folded all this together. :-) Observation will show you what's required; during cooler weather, like spring and fall, very little watering may be required, or even none at all. I haven't used the sprinklers since September even though rainfall's been a bit low. Half an inch on very sandy soil is generally a good place to start, and figure you may need it twice a week in hot weather. Weekly in pleasant summer weather. I always play it by ear and water when my grass starts to wilt--which also sends the signal to the grass that more root mass might be a good idea. >>Based on the soil test results do you think my soil problem can be corrected On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being very bad, and 10 be very good. Where on the scale would you put my soil? All soils can be corrected and yours is certainly no exception to that. Mine started out more than ten times as acidic, with essentially no calcium, modest magnesium, and very low potassium. Not to mention a nearly complete lack of every other resource. These days, it can grow anything I throw into the soil (as long as the plant is compatible with my climate and the sunlight it gets, of course). The problem isn't getting plants to grow, it's getting them to stop taking over! There was a visible battle front between the ageratum and zinnia this year. Overall, I'd give your soil about a 5 at the present instant...it's almost exactly what I'd expect for your locale, without modifications. That can easily be turned up to the 7 to 9 range. 10 is possible but would take years of work.