None of the do-it-yourself soil tests are recommended. Highly noted for poor results and inaccuracy that can easily lead you off in the wrong direction. Professional soil testing, available from your county extension service and/or any state university for a minimal fee is the standard recommendation. Dave

anntn: thank you for your comprehensive answer! I'm in Ontario, Canada (not California) and we're on Canadian Shield bedrock. Pretty uniform! According to soil maps of the region, I should expect clay till soil, and that's pretty much been my experience. michealg: yes, I expect that the kit wasn't particularly reliable. LynnT: Thank you for the tip about universities. An excellent idea! There's a service through the University of Guelph, which is a big aggie school not too far from here. subk3: Thank you so much for the great information about phosphorous and the link to that wonderful essay. I also navigated to the Dr Chalker-Scott's website and am looking forward to reading up on soils and other gardening practicalities in more detail. Cecily: I assume that was a rhetorical question, but even so I'm going to answer it! lol. Julia Child looked great all season last year - plentiful, healthy green foliage and great repeat on her blooms. She's truly a star. Wild Blue Yonder also grew well, though was stingy with blooms and hardly repeated at all. The rest (Blue Girl HT cl., Bolero, Carefree Beauty are a few) were pretty leggy and sparse, though they're all young plants (1 - 2 years, 3 for BG) so that's not necessarily indicative of anything. In any case, I really appreciate all the help! Please, keep it coming! :) Happy New Year, Karen

Larry, I am not an expert on home soil test kits, but they have a reputation among hard-core, serious gardeners of being highly variable in their results and unreliable as well. I probably wouldn't spend the money on one, but instead would have a professional soil test done through OSU. One problem with soil test kits is that many people use them when the soil is still cold (clearly not an issue right now) and that can skew the results. Also, a lot of people don't bother to buy and use distilled water, and just use tap water, which can give incorrect results as well. The little home soil test kits you see in stores probably give fairly accurate pH results, but I wouldn't necessarily put my faith in their N-P-K testing. If you do have your soil tested through a university soil lab, you get a report back with recommendations on what to do to fix the "problems" found by the test. I believe you generally contact your county agriculture extension agent to get the materials to send in your soil sample. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: OSU Soil Lab

Get a soil test done at your local Agricultural center. They are University based and do intensive studies. Please don't buy any kind of meter for soil test or moisture. They are inaccurate . It only cost 7 bucks here for the test. I have to send it in and pay postage. Some states you just have to take soil samples in and they will test it right there in the office. It will tell you what you need and don't need.