[Colonel K0rn]

I'm a friendly neighbor, and was talking to my new younger neighbors who planted a garden this year. They rented a tiller, and straight up tilled the ground, without killing anything or fallowing the land prior. Bless their hearts.

So, the other day, she had some questions about what to do with certain plants, and I was giving them some pointers, and lent her my hoe and garden weasel. I had some Preen, and let her sprinkle that around the garden to cut down on some more of the weed pressure, since I spotted crabgrass trying to tiller out. I asked her if she had a soil test done, and she said she hadn't. I used the ProPlugger to get some samples, and sent it off to the Extension lab to get an idea of what she needed to do. I had some idea of what the results were going to be, based off of my soil test in the past.

Here's what the results came back as. Method was Mehlich I Extractant. Total garden size is 250 ft².

I recommended that she get some calcitic lime, and apply 8 # to the whole area. She had a bag of "Hi-Yield" hydrated lime, which I probably have seen, but have never used. I told her to see if she if she could go to the store and get some dolomitic lime, and put out 27 # for the whole area. I also recommended that she put out 7 # of 10-10-10, and any brand would work. She said her dad told her to get Milo, and I said it's good, but you're going to need the P & K that the 10-10-10 is going to give you.

Now with that being said, can you guys give me any other advice with regard to the 2nd page of the test results? If some of them need adjusting, I've still got some of the Axilo Mix 5 that I bought last year when I started treating the micro deficiencies in my own yard.

Going to page @Ridgerunner

 

[Ridgerunner]

Disclaimer: I'm not a gardener, what I've been researching is turf.
All values are, as you say, M1 and reported as lbs/acre which makes converting to ppm easy: just divide reported lbs/acre values by 2.
Use the sufficiency value ranges for M1 in my thread.
Short version below, but:
Ca and Mg look good. But a pH of 5.5 is a bit low for most plants. We don't want to throw our Ca:Mg or Mg:K ratios too far off, so I think your suggestion of dolomitic is the best choice.. Problem is, farmers usually take care of this the previous Fall and lime is gonna mess with the availability of N. Not sure that even fast acting would take care of this in time for planting.
P is just slightly below mid-range (15-30ppm) garden is 21ppm. For a garden, being at the high end would probably be better as it's a temporary plant/crop. Let's go top, (30). 30-21 = 9 ppm. I just happen to know 1# of P2O5 is about 9.5 ppm for 1000sq feet , so for 250 sq feet, that would be 1/4# of P2O5. Explain to them that P2O5 is how fertilizer is labeled on the bag. In a 10-10-10, the middle number indicates that 10% of the content is equivalent to P2O5. So applying 10 pounds of 10-10-10 would be applying 1# of P2O5, and applying 2.5 lbs of 10-10-10 would apply 1/4 lb of P2O5.
K is short For a garden, I'd think 150 ppm or a little higher and 5-7% Base Saturation.
CEC is 8.8. 5% of 8.8 is 0.44 meq. .44 X 780 = 344 lbs of K per acre. 344 less the 136 we have leaves a shortage of 208 lbs per acre or 4.78lbs per 1M or 1.2lbs for 250 sq ft. 1.2 X1.2 results in 1.4 (call it 1.5) lbs of K2O needed ot get to 5%. Let's look at from the perspective of 150-200 ppm. 175 ppm - 68 ppm existing, leaves a shortage of 107. 107 X 2 is 214 lbs of K/ acre. or 4.9/M or 1.3 lbs of K per 250 sq feet. 1.3 X 1.2 =1.6 lbs of K2O (in fact, I see not reason not to go 2 lbs of K2O for a garden, 200 ppm). K2O is how K is listed on the fertilizer bag. Explain to them the same way as you did for P2O5. Not sure what you want to recommend to them as far as the right fertilizer to meet those levels. Whatever, they need to work it into the top 6".
Micros look pretty good. Zinc is high, but toxic levels aren't really established, plus, it is what it is.
Sorry for being so windy.

Short version: To be honest, I'd go with a version what you suggested and adjust for next year after another soil test this Fall after they harvest the garden: 26 lbs of dolomitic lime, EDIT 5-7 lbs of 10-10-10 is fine (although something with a smaller P number might be preferred : 10-5-10?- not big deal for one year though and the extra might be advantageous especially with the high Zinc ), work it in to 6" as best they can, let it sit a couple of weeks before planting.