Hello, Please let me know where soil analysis is done near Mississauga. My lawn is weed infested, and I would like to know what kind of amendments are required. Also, what is the right way to collect a soil sample?
Thanking you in advance.
When a lawn is overrun with weeds, this is often at least in part due to the soil lacking nutrients or having a pH that is too high/low — so that the grass does not thrive, leaving room for those nasty weeds! Soil analysis is a great place to start to investigate the root cause of this problem.
There are a number of accredited soil testing laboratories in Ontario. Our recommended first step is to contact your chosen laboratory to determine if they can provide the type of testing you are seeking, how to send the samples, turnaround time for the analysis and cost.
The University of Guelph’s Agriculture and Food Laboratory has a great website, which includes Lawn & Garden Soil Fertility information. You can call or email them for detailed information — as I did. As for collecting samples, they emailed me back as follows: “The lab requires a minimum of 300g of sample collected from the top 15 cm (6 inches) of soil. Take approx.10 scoops of soil from scattered points of the lawn/garden, mix together well in a bucket and submit one 300g composite sample. Sample(s) can be put into a new/unused plastic bag (ie. a Ziploc sandwich bag is the correct size) and the bag(s) put into a box for shipping so that they do not split in transit.”)
For more information, see
- The City of Toronto’s 2013 Guide for Soil Testing in Urban Gardens includes general instructions on how to collect samples.
- The City of Toronto’s Improving your soil organically for successful gardening provides details on how to enhance the quality of your soil.
Good luck with ridding your lawn of those aggressive weeds!