Residential Lawn & Garden

Lawn and Garden Soil Fertility

AFL offers homeowners a Residential Lawn and Garden Soil Fertility Package to help you take steps in maintaining healthy soil for your lawn and garden. It is suitable for home owners looking to check fertilizer requirements for garden or lawn application, and smaller farms growing general garden crops for personal consumption. Limited interpretation is provided. The test report includes recommendations outlined by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (formerly OMAFRA). Our methods are designed for mineral soils and are not suitable for growing media/potting soil that includes perlite or vermiculite. This is testing is only available for Ontario soils.

The Residential Lawn & Garden Fertility Package is $68.95 per sample (effective May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025) and includes:

  • Soil pH (buffer for pH<6.1)
  • Calcium
  • Phosphorus
  • Potassium
  • Magnesium
  • Sodium
  • Total salts
  • Organic matter

If you are seeking advice on pests and plant diseases found in and around the home, please contact your local Garden Centre.  

Sample Collection Instruction for Residential Lawn & Garden Fertility Package

The lab requires approx. 300g (3/4 lb) of soil per sample collected from the top 15 cm (6 inches) of soil. Sample(s) can be put into a new, unused sandwich sized plastic bag. Please place the bags into a box for shipping to avoid splitting in transit. 

Please complete a General Sample Submission Form and include it with your sample(s). Please write “Lawn & Garden Fertility Package” in the Analysis Requested field of the submission form.

Ship samples to:

          Agriculture and Food Laboratory
          95 Stone Road West
          Guelph, Ontario
          N1G 2Z4

The turn around time for this analysis is approximately 20 business days from receipt of sample(s) at the lab.  Please include a cheque for the cost of testing made payable to the University of Guelph. This testing is HST exempt.

PLEASE NOTE: due to import restrictions, we cannot accept soil samples from outside Canada.

Please contact us if you require additional information.

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