Soil Temperature Testing

When my seeds arrived in the mail, some packets had the vague instructions to plant at 50, 60 or 65 degrees -- so I figured it would be good to see what the soil temperature is like now in my yard.  I purchased an instant read thermometer last week -- it is supposed to be used for the kitchen ....

I figure I can use it outside as long as I never use it in the kitchen.  To complete my test, I plunked the thermometer about an inch into the soil in a few places around my soon to be garden and waited a minute before reading it.  My soil temperature is about 45 degrees.  It sounds close to ready -- but then we are having an unusually warm winter here in the Pacific NW, so who knows.

After I did my soil temperature test, I decided to look up some information about how to do it accurately.  I found a resource I really liked at the Weekend Gardener web magazine and took away these tips:

1. Don't rely on one reading.  Instead, test for several days in a row and use the average before making any decisions.
2. Don't be random.  Try to test at the same time of day, preferably midday.
3. Test the soil at 2 inches for cool weather crops.
4. Test the soil at 4 inches for warm weather crops.

There was a lot of other detailed information about using soil temperature to make the most of your vegetable crop in the Weekend Gardener's article.  But for now, I am going to end with a tip of my own:

1. Use tape to mark exactly where 2 and 4 inches are on your probe thermometer.  If you use a dial style thermometer for your soil temperature test like I did, the tape won't get in the way of your readings and will let you be more consistent from day to day -- unless you have a good sense of distance.  (Not one of my gifts.)