I keep track of everything I buy for my business- including the soil test.

I got the soil test results back and I am disappointed.

Test 1 was taken all over a couple inches down in all the areas I grew in except the bad area.

Test 2 was just the worst producing spot where my potatoes that didn't grow were. I suspect something there.

Test 1 results :
ph 7.3
P very high
K medium
N medium is estimated
organic matter only 2.6%

Test 2 results:
ph 6.6
P very high
K high
N estimated medium to low
organic matter 2.1%

I am bummed that the organic matter is so low! And I will need so many truckloads of compost. I am presently working on making lots of my own but with that much space I can't make enough.
I am also disappointed in the main area's high ph. My ideal is 6.5. Funny the one test did show a lower ph when it is all the same basic area.
I didn't take samples in the two areas I had douced with manure and compost, but just the normal areas with some added. The bad area didn't have any now that I think about it. I had heard potatoes get more scab from compost but that is proven a falacy in my garden! I had potatoes sprout in the compost piles and they were beautiful. So now I know I can use lots of compost where the potatoes will go. In fact that is where I am adding most of my garden waste this fall. I will top with leaves and old straw and some finished 'compost facility' compost. Then next year add more compost on top of the potatoes and then mulch on top of that.

This week I will be putting compost where I finally decided the garlic will go. I will then till in, plant and top with more (instead of digging the garlic in I will cover it from above some- works with bulbs).

Is it too late for you to get a good cover crop growing?? (I suspect it is in zone 4) That seems one of the more efficient ways to cover large areas such as yours. Of course you could always put down the MG "organic fertilizer"----(ducks and runs!!!!)

Little Minnie has just seen why it is important to get soil tests done, because you cannot tell just by looking at soil what is there and what is needed. The soil in both areas need more organic matter, around 5 to 8 percent is ideal. Since it was not included we do not know what the level, and ratio, of Calcium and Magnesium us. It is known that too much Potash (K) in soils can inhibit the uptake of Nitrogen, just as high levels of Phosphorus inhibit the uptake of Zinc, Iron, and Cobalt.
Too much, and too little Magnesium affects a plants ability to uptake Calcium and that is why they need to be in balance.

I would have thought the organic matter was higher since they have winter rye there year after year and disk it in every spring.

What would the reason be for such high phosphorous levels that I have? Also why would the bad area actually be lower in ph and higher in potassium than the rest? The areas are adjacent but one 'wedge' didn't get composted as well and is maybe lower than the rest, that is the bad area. I will be putting in a cover crop over most of that area next year. For now I am letting the natural cover crop grow (I naturally have rye, vetch, clover and alfalfa heavy among the weeds it turns out). It is too late in the season here to cover crop but there is tons of clover I planted in spring that will be worked in. I am just planning on huge quantities of compost and manure to help year by year. With the tomato success I had I assume the cal and mag are ok, but the failure of cucs and peas indicates something.

I've not seen any cover/green manure crop add a significant amount of organic matter to the soil if that was tilled into the soil. Actually I've not seen tilling organic matter into the soil significantly increase the humus level anytime it has been tilled in. My experience is that tilling OM into the soil so stimulates the soil bacteria that they rapidly digest that OM leaving little of the humus, the residual.
What I have seen, on my sand, is that piling on mulches, and not tilling them in, will add more OM to the soil then several cover crops each year will if they are tilled in. Even in the clays in the gardens in Indiana, Ohio, and Texas the levels of humus in the soil increased faster with mulches and no till then they did when the same amount of OM was tilled into that soil.
Tilling, I think, adds too much air to the soil and that gets the soil bacteria working on any available OM in the soil so they digest it much too fast.

I had excessively high levels of phosphorous due to adding composted horse manure. Used shredded leaves and straw for awhile and it cleared up. Don't know how your lab is but Clemson will give corrective action using organic methods. They don't explain the reason but I have access to the lab and a couple sustainable research scientists as long as I don't abuse the system. Try talking to your county agent. They might be commercially brainwashed but you might find an exception or get a lead. while you're there ask them what their connection is to USDA?

Dirt

Kimm1--how about cutting cover crops and letting it lay? Effectively that would become a mulch and should increase OM as well shouldn't it?

<<<watches the story unfold, intently rubs her hands together...

That is what I have been doing with my cover crops now for several years and not tilling my soil and I am seeing an increase and stabization of humus levels in this soil. It hangs around 6 percent provided I put compost and shredded leaf mulches down as well.

Which cover crops will die from being cut down and thus not take over?

Also how does my ph vary so much in 30 feet?

This is a combination of the amount of organic matter in the soil and the ratio of Calcium to Magnesium. Too much Calcium can raise a soils pH, but too much Magnesium, or not enough, can influence the availability of that Ca and what it does in the soil.
Soil pH is a measure of the free radical Hydrogen ions in the soil and Ca will bind with them as the Mg allows.

OregonRed, you crack me up! Thanks, I needed a good chuckle!

Peace

Gail

There are several cover crop mixes that many online sources provide with detailed explanations of weather tolerance and growing length. Most of these mixes are annual crops. Usually cereal grains, white and red clover, winter peas, hairy vetch and triticale are included in the mixes, and most organic sources have some mixes as well as single crop seeds. Google organic cover crop seed and you'll get a number of options.