by Austin Brown

COURTLAND
The Albemarle-Chowan Watershed Roundtable is sponsoring a program to promote soil sampling for residents living in the Albemarle and Chowan watersheds. All of Southampton County qualifies for this program, as well as portions of surrounding areas.

Plants require a fertile soil or growth media to supply nutrients essential to plant growth and development. Testing your soil can provide information on the proper amount of lime and fertilizer to apply to your lawn, garden, and other areas of your landscape. Applying only as much fertilizer and lime as is necessary at the appropriate time minimizes nutrient runoff into surface or ground water, saves money, and optimizes plant health.

Samples are sent to the Virginia Tech Soil Testing Lab, which generally charges $10 per sample for routine testing. This fee will be billed to the Albemarle-Chowan Watershed Roundtable as a part of this program. Residents will be sent a soil test report including soil results and fertilization and limestone recommendations based on the analysis and plant needs.

You can drop by the Southampton County Office of Virginia Cooperative Extension, 21300 Plank Road, Courtland, to obtain the appropriate soil sampling kit, along with instructions for collecting and sending samples. I encourage you to capitalize on this opportunity to maximize the health of your lawn or garden in an economically and environmentally friendly manner.

For more information contact Austin Brown at 653-2572, or visit the Albemarle-Chowan Watershed Roundtable website at http://www.a-cwrt.org/.

Austin Brown is the Extension Agent, ANR of the Virginia Cooperative Extension for Southampton County, 21300 Plank Road, Courtland. You may contact him at 653-2572; fax at 653-2849 or abbrown3@vt.edu.