seysonn, that's a good point about prior fertilizing having an effect on soil elements. I just bought this property 18 months ago. I wonder what previous owners did. no way to know, this was a bank sale and contact with prior owners was not allowed. Also they only had the place a couple of years, so before them who knows? I read that people use too much phosphorus and there can be buildup in soil. Last year i used miracle gro for tomatoes in my new raised beds, especially for tomatoes and peppers, all the while wondering if i was doing the right thing. The raised beds are roughly 2/3 soil from my 2 acre yard, and 1/3 leaf compost from the local recycler. Now i think I was not doing the right thing, because of this soil analysis. Tomatoes and peppers were slow to get started, but ultimately gave us plenty. Okra never took off - I know this is a cold climate, but i was hoping for more than we got. Zucchinis and butternut squash did OK but not as productive as I hoped So this year i have some science to guide me. Glad I got the test done. I hope my implementation of the results is productive! Those results are from the soil source for the raised beds, so do not reflect what i did. Next year I should test the beds and see if my results got the soil closer to optimum.

Oh, thank you every one for such nice comments,i really wanted to take more pic's today, but had a lot of running to do, AND ----------------------- Are you all ready for a good laugh? Ok, here it is! I was working around the pond,pulling weeds and trying to move a few plants,when- All of a Sudden!,I lost my footing,ya know how you kind of stumble around hoping to regain you footing,looking all funny like,and then you just loose it? Yep, head first,in I went,shot up like a bullet!,gasping for breath,trying to gain my footing,not easy on a slippery rubber bottom,lol,lol,lol Oh, if only some one would have had a camara,it would have made Funniest Videos for sure!Man did I smell awful! ha ha ha Since I was already wet-no-Soaked!I went ahead and moved my water lilies more into what little sun i have. Go ahead,have a good laugh,it,s on me. I will try to post again tomorrow, after that, I showered and called it a day. Hope your day was better than mine.lol Carol

That is a wonderful write-up. Thanks for taking the time to write it. We have a Viking cooktop and your observatoins match ours in using it for 7+ years. Alas, we don't have a grill so nothing to add here. We do have a portable infra-red grill we bought for our boat. And our experience matches yours. It is great for stakes but everything else will get torched from below, but no heat from above. They should call this steak grills and be done with it. BTW, we don't have the boat and never use it. FYI, we have a cermaic cooker now which we use for slow smoking (e.g. 12-18 hours). I have used it rain and shine including in snow. It will use only one single bag of charcoal for 24 hours. It has an automated controller for temps and I am able to manage it from the PC inside our house (through a program I have written). It is able to maintain its temp within 2% or even better! Not saying you should go that way but it is worth considering what you can do with an outside unit for at least slower cooks. You only have to put up with the weather when you load and unload it. And of course, it will create a BBQ which rivals or betters more restaurants. Again, much appreciate the feedback.

I had a very rough weekend and was late getting this set up. As of last night (day 1) the two batches of seed smelled like wet corn with maybe a hint of fermentation. The 2014 grown batch should be almost completely viable, but I wanted it for a comparison/baseline. Is there a corn forum I can post this test in? I can't seem to find one. :)