We recently purchased an 1850 sea captains farmhouse on eight plus acres just off the Kennebec River. For years, until the 1970-80’s the family had a hay farm. I have found some wild blueberries out in the fields but not much else. We do have a couple of black walnut trees, two beautiful maples, a Shagbark hickory tree, a struggling beechnut tree, an old mock orange, an old Peegee hydrangea and a beautiful stand of old white lilacs. What we would like to do is add some fruit trees, flowering dogwoods, more maple trees and sweeping native plant gardens. The entire front of the property needs to be visually softened. Out back we would like to put in some vegetable gardens and work with the blueberries there but add more in addition to planting other berries. I was wondering if it would be possible to submit a number of soil samples to have the various areas tested before we begin this 3-5 year process? Especially the areas where we are planning vegetable gardens and along the roadway where I would like to add some apple trees. I checked the site and didn’t see any information on soil submission. Thank you for your time!! Such a great site.<\/strong><\/p>\n Tori Lee Jackson, Extension Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources, <\/em> This sounds like a wonderful project! Fortunately, soil testing will be the easy part. I recommend soil tests as soon as your soil is thawed to get an idea of what you might need to add for amendments prior to planting. You’ll get a reading on nutrients, organic matter, and the pH. Kits that include boxes, instructions and submission forms are available at our county offices (yours is in Lisbon Falls<\/a>). You pay $18 for each sample when you send your boxes up to the lab in Orono<\/a>. Good luck with your gardens!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: We recently purchased an 1850 sea captains farmhouse on eight plus acres just off the Kennebec River. For years, until the 1970-80’s the family had a hay farm. I have found some wild blueberries out in the fields but not much else. We do have a couple of black walnut trees, two beautiful maples, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,207],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask","category-soil"],"yoast_head":"\nAnswer:<\/h3>\n
\nUniversity of Maine Cooperative Extension Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties<\/em><\/p>\n