Who needs a soil test when you have sheep sorrel?

Kidding. I know I need a soil test. It's important to get a baseline on what your yard is up to before you start adding fertilizers, organic or otherwise. I am going to get the soil tested – already called the extension service to get the lowdown. But since I've dumped about 20 yards of leaf compost on the yard in the last two weeks, I figure getting it now would end up showing an inaccurate result for when it comes time to fertilize in the spring. So I am dragging my feet, by design.

But the other day I noticed how much the sheep sorrel love the compost. They were bigger, greener and healthier than their puny cousins in the non-composted parts of the yard.

Hmmm. Tukey says you have to learn to read your weeds. And while perusing the Rutgers University Weed Gallery, I recently learned sheep sorrel is an indicator for acidic soil. Based on how much it loved the leaf compost, I am willing to guess that the compost is pretty acidic.

So I limed. And - it could be my imagination, of course - but the sheep sorrel seems a lot less comfortable since.