Current state of the veggie patch. Cover crop is pretty epic now. Also, all the grass and planters started their own fall and winter cover crop of clover. This comes every year on it’s own. I think gramps threw it down a million years ago
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what is the plant with the round-ish leaves? it looks like mallow/“cheese-weed” to me but I can’t tell… 
Whatever came in that cover crop blend from Build a Soil. No clue
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So now, since Dad has been digging out the planters, I have a huge pile of dirt on the side of my garage. Not soil, there was nothing alive in there, just dirt. What do I do to the half of it that I want to put back into the planter. What should I mix in? I suppose I should send a sample out for testing and see what they say right?
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the lab test would be great, especially if you wanna shell 
out for the contamination test…i.e. poisons.
check out @MomOnTheRun 's soil evaluation with the clear vessel & do that one yourself…(figure out % clay, sand, silt). mine is nearly the right ratio for making mortar(60%sand, 40%clay) 
.
you may well end up only using 10%/volume of it at a time or half & half, with compost & either perlite or lavarock(perlite wears down, more hazardous, but is cheaper/lighter). if the compost is cheap stuff, add good worm castings & call it good.
(imo)
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This 
Fill a clear jar ~1/3 with soil then fill jar with water and a tsp non foaming dish soap or borax (helps clay settle) and shake for ~5minutes to break it all up. Sand settles at 15min, Silt after 1 hr and clay after 24hrs - ignore matter that may be floating…measure in mm’s and add all numbers together then divide each layers mm # by the total and multiply by 100 for the percentage. For example:
20mm sand + 17mm silt + 13mm clay = 50 mm total
Sand: 20mm/50=0.4 x 100 = 40%
Silt: 17mm/50 = 0.34 x 100 = 34%
Clay: 13mm/50 = 0.26 x 100 = 26%
Now that you have the percentages of each layer, find them on the texture pyramid for the texture type:
Don’t forget to check ph before dumping out the sample…this will help to see what needs to be added to build it up 
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This is super informative, thanks @MomOnTheRun!
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I love that pyramid. 
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Mix in organic matter, manure you have left over , leaves, compost . I sod cut 90% of my back yard out turned it over and watered it from time to time , worms moved in and are making some nice aggregated soil! “Field of dreams” quote " build it and they will come!"
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Anyone know a good place for soil tests? Is Texas A&M good? Also, I’ve never sent one in before. What do I send it in? Like a gallon ziploc baggie?
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My grandpa told me a story once. He was in a hospital in USSR-Ukraine in the 60s with a heart problem. He had a bunkie from a really rural area. Think no running water, outhouses, never been to a doctor, can barely read kind of rural. There were about a half-dozen of them to a room.
When the nurse came around asking for a stool sample, the poor guy did not understand. So when the nurse left, some smartass roomie man-splained to the guy that he has to fill a 2L (1/2gal) pickle jar with his sample.
Not knowing any better, the poor guy was trying his best for a full day and a half, and diligently dropped off the 3/4 full “sample” jar to the nurses station…
The reason this story popped into my mind is that I have no idea how large of a soil sample you might need, but you might as well at least quintuple it 
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If that is your local extension then yes… all extensions use the Mehlich III test using strong acids to break everything down to see what is in the soil - great for perennials and traditional gardening. However, for consumables, I prefer IAG as they use the Morgan test using weak acids to break everything down to see what is in the soil as well as, what is plant available which is great for remineralizing
A ziplock baggie works
Texas A & M needs at least 1-2 pints whereas IAG needs 1 1/2 cups…
Texas A & M test form with instructions …i’d go with option 3
IAG test form…i’d go with S-1 and S-4.
The collection is the same …make a grid of the area and take a 1" sample 6" down from each square, mix it altogether then add the amount needed to the baggie, fill out the form and send it in (mail or hand delivery) with the check, money order etc and wait ~2wks for results…easy peasy The size of your grid depends upon the size of the area…for your yard, i’d go every 3x3 area
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I couldn’t find my extension office here in so cal. I found Texas a&m on the internet. I was just gonna test the dirt that dad dug out of the new soon to be special cannabis beds to see what they recommend as half of it I am planning to amend and put back and the rest will be all new living soil from build a soil.
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Sorry, had to run off for my youngest’s ot appt…
Then I would definitely go with IAG…if you go with the recommendations option just be aware they will taylor it to products they use…mostly minerals and chelates. On the upside is, whatever is missing or your low on they can formulate a broadcast mix for your particular soil saving from having to purchase 3-10 bags of things that may or may not be needed right now then you can use build a soil top dresses to build it up from there…its a $50.00 base fee plus pennies on the dollar what they actually use to make the broadcast mix. This is what I do then when I add anything to the soil, I make a note of it as well as the response for a couple yrs then test it again unless I am in an important project then its done right at mixing, sometimes retested if its way off, again at the end of the season then after every season after with an updated analysis every 2 yrs
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@Meesh @MomOnTheRun … and there’s the exra but super duper tests for herbicide & toxic goodies. 
Not a bad idea in the burbs when gramps was a fan of roundup. Takes one to know one. 
And the living soil tests for microbes & cannabanana-biota… 
(i think this one is $$$).
Yay for rain 
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Actually, Dad assured me that Gramps never used any pesticides or weed killers. He went all organic. However, I had a bug apocalypse one year and had the bug guys spray the whole back yard. I almost don’t want to know. It was at least 5 or 6 years ago, so I hope it is gone now. Yeah @cannabissequoia that test is the super pricey one. I am just gonna take my chances.
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So potato bugs… Beneficial insects for my soil or should I drive a shovel through their disgusting ginormous heads?
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Give them the gillotine treatment or knock them off into soapy water
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If they are truly Potato Bugs, they can eat up your crops.
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Are you talking about the Colorado potato beetle? We fought very hard against them in Ukraine. Every motherfucking last one of them deserves a death in a burning kerosene bucket.
Stay’n Happy
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