Soil Investigation Notes

Texture by hand, drainage by timed water, organic content by look, and pH if strips are available.

Four tests done properly on three sites gives twelve results and a real comparison. The hand texture test is the one worth teaching carefully, because it is free, portable and reasonably reliable once practised.

The page has each protocol written out, the results table, and a conclusion frame. It also has a note that pH strips are cheap and worth buying, since the pH result is often the one that explains why something refuses to grow in a particular bed.