How to Measure Area?

Area measurements.
After you decide the areas where you will need to collect a soil sample you are going to have to measure the area. This is important because you will need to report to the soil lab how much of an area the soil sample represents (usually in acres in America). This is also important because when you get the soil report back you will need to know how much fertilizer to use. This will be presented to you by tons/acre or such.
There are several ways you can go about doing this;
1. Measure exactly. Pull out a tape measure and measure the length and width. Then use those geometric formulas (square, rectangle, circle, triangle) you should remember from high school and find the areas (you can also Google the formulas).
2. Pull it from your plat. If you have drawings or a land survey for you property you may be able to determine the areas by measuring with a ruler the length and width and again using those geometric formulas.
3. Step it off. Measure your stride then step off the length and width. Convert your steps to feet (again America). Then use those geometric formulas you should remember from high school. You really should have studied.
4. Estimate. To estimate you must have some concept of how big a unit square area is. I like to use 1000 square feet. I know from experience how much area 1000 sqft is. I would then imagine a unit of 1000 sqft and set them next to each other on the lawn/landscape until I had it all covered. I would then add up how many unit areas I used. Note this is almost impossible to use on very large areas and should be avoided. If you are using more than 10 unit areas you should try a different way to measure the area.
5. Guess. Yep I said guess! Your results to this method are directly proportional to the effort you put forth. So use one of the first four methods.