What is soil testing?

Soil testing is the process of analyzing the soil via a lab to determine whether soil amendments, fertilizers, or pH adjustments are needed to ensure healthy plants or turf. This practice involves collecting soil samples from within your garden or landscape to provide an understanding of the soil's nutrient composition, texture, and acidity levels. By examining nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients, soil testing can identify deficiencies or imbalances.

What are macronutrients, and why does soil need them?

Three primary nutrients are essential to plant health: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. Plants need these nutrients in more significant quantities than other elements, called macronutrients, represented by the three numbers on a bag of fertilizer, such as 10-10-10. Fertilizer blends can also include micronutrients that are important for healthy plants but are needed only in trace amounts.

What role does pH play in the availability of nutrients for plants?

The secret to unlocking the availability of nutrients is an all-important measurement—the pH of the soil. Most plants thrive in slightly acidic to neutral soil (pH 6.0 to 7.0). In a nutshell, pH measures whether soil leans toward being acidic or basic. If the pH is not balanced correctly, plant roots cannot uptake nutrients, even if they're present in the soil.

What frequency of residential soil testing do you recommend?

If nutrient ranges are within, or reasonably close to, normal ranges, test your soil only every two or three years. However, if some nutrients are excessively high or low, a soil analysis should be performed yearly until the results are consistently within acceptable levels.

Residential Soil Testing

Macro and micronutrients are essential for the health of your lawn and garden, and advice from a professional will ensure the best care for your plants. Call The Grounds Guys^® today for affordable, top-quality residential soil testing services!

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Residential Soil Testing Services

Call on The Grounds Guys for all your soil testing and fertilizing questions. The plant doctor is "in" to help you with garden and lawn tips to keep your landscape at the peak of health.
Service professionals from The Grounds Guys can undertake soil analysis to determine the levels of nutrients in your soil and let you know whether there are deficiencies or excesses.
A practical soil test by The Grounds Guys will allow us to recommend what kind of fertilizer (and how much) you must apply to your lawn or garden to correct deficiencies.

The Importance of Residential Soil Testing

There are 18 essential nutrients necessary for healthy plant growth. The air supplies three of these—oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon—but a plant has to receive the other 15 nutrients from the soil. This is one of the primary functions of plant roots—absorbing the essential elements a plant needs. We recommend a soil test the season before planting or growing. For example, if you have a warm-season turfgrass type, have the soil tested in the fall or winter. This allows time for fertilizer to be applied to your lawn or garden and fully incorporated into the soil.

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The Importance of Residential Soil Testing

How The Grounds Guys Can Help You

The Grounds Guys is a full-service grounds care company. Our established systems allow us to deliver industry-leading lawn care and landscape solutions to commercial and residential clients. Built on a family tradition of caring, we are driven by a passion to exceed customer expectations and consistently deliver client satisfaction.

All The Grounds Guys franchises are locally owned and operated and may offer fewer or more services than those listed here.
To learn more about services offered in your area, contact The Grounds Guys nearest you for details or a customized on-site assessment.

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The Grounds Guys keep your lawn neat with expert mowing and clean edges.
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Our team installs customized irrigation systems for optimal water efficiency — and repairs faulty ones, restoring proper water flow to your lawn.
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Customer Reviews

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Amazing work! My yard side yard went from a looking like a jungle to the garden it is supposed to look like. Justin and Angel made sure everything looked okay with me before going on to the next task. Very detail oriented.

Kim S.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The crew arrived ready to transform my space, and wow is it beautiful! The guys worked efficiently and carefully, planting the bushes and plants. I would highly recommend David and the crew.

Rich & Gretchen E.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Grounds Guys do a phenomenal job. They did a major cleanup of my yard, installed new sod, laid stone, shells, and mulch, planted new Areca palms and flowers, rerouted some sprinklers, and created a flagstone path to the backyard, and all of it was down with meticulous care, attention to detail, and skill. The Guys are friendly, professional, and just a delight to deal with. They offered good suggestions for improving the yard and have communicated clearly throughout the process. I can’t recommend them enough.

Amanda C.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The team at Grounds Guys was so helpful in getting started, providing us a quote and even revising the quote when we changed our preferences. The team who came out was so quick and efficient and our yard looks great! Highly recommend!

Deborah A.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Grounds Guys went above and beyond to complete our landscaping project. They were very flexible when needed as well. We definitely recommend them for any landscaping project you have in mind!

Shane P.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Exceeded our expectations. The work is neat and good looking. They took the initiative to do a little extra. So pleased.

Georgia R.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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Frequently Asked Questions

Soil testing is crucial to maintaining a healthy garden or landscape. Our FAQs address some common queries about the importance of soil testing, including what it entails, how often to perform it, and the key nutrients that support plant growth.

Soil testing is the process of analyzing the soil via a lab to determine whether soil amendments, fertilizers, or pH adjustments are needed to ensure healthy plants or turf. This practice involves collecting soil samples from within your garden or landscape to provide an understanding of the soil's nutrient composition, texture, and acidity levels. By examining nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients, soil testing can identify deficiencies or imbalances.
Three primary nutrients are essential to plant health: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. Plants need these nutrients in more significant quantities than other elements, called macronutrients, represented by the three numbers on a bag of fertilizer, such as 10-10-10. Fertilizer blends can also include micronutrients that are important for healthy plants but are needed only in trace amounts.
The secret to unlocking the availability of nutrients is an all-important measurement—the pH of the soil. Most plants thrive in slightly acidic to neutral soil (pH 6.0 to 7.0). In a nutshell, pH measures whether soil leans toward being acidic or basic. If the pH is not balanced correctly, plant roots cannot uptake nutrients, even if they're present in the soil.
If nutrient ranges are within, or reasonably close to, normal ranges, test your soil only every two or three years. However, if some nutrients are excessively high or low, a soil analysis should be performed yearly until the results are consistently within acceptable levels.

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