Testing your garden soil is a whole different beast. You can’t just jam the meter into dry dirt. That’s like asking a fish to climb a tree. You need to make soil soup. Take a scoop of dirt, mix it with an equal part distilled water (tap water has its own pH, dummy!), and stir like you’re making a mud pie.
How To Test The Ph at Kyle Adamson blog
Let it sit for ten minutes. Then dip your strip or probe into the liquid on top. The cloudy sediment is just drama. The water tells the truth. If it’s below 6, your plants are screaming for lime. Above 7.5? They’re in a mineral coma.
For the fanciest dirt test, you can buy a kit that tests not just pH, but nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It’s like a blood panel for your backyard. But for most of us, a simple pH check prevents 90% of plant murders.
