HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-04-27, Page 28•oSi
PAGE 28. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1988.
Home & Garden ’88
Improving soil brings healthier garden plants
A good soil can be made up of
equal parts brown sphagnum moss
peat, clay loam and gritty sand.
While few of us are blessed with
such a soil in our gardens, we can
amend them to make the plants
healthier and to make our jobs
easier.
Heavy clays are prevalent in
some areas. These are frustrating
to deal with. They warm slowly in
spring and hold water. When they
are wet they cannot be worked
without turning them to a brick-
like material. When dry they bake
hard and are slow to take up rain or
irrigation water.
Extra light soils, those almost
pure sands, warm up sooner in
spring and drain well, but are
prone to erode. Minerals leak out
quickly and they do not hold water.
Ironically, both kinds, as well as
soils in between, benefit from the
addtiion of almost unlimited
amounts of organic matter. Clays
also benefit from incorporation of
sharp, gritty sand and sometimes
gypsum.
For most gardeners, baled
brown peat moss is an easy source
of organic matterand it is relatively
long lasting in the soil. In addition
or instead, compost of garden and
kitchen wastes tilled in annually
will result in a lighter, more open
and water-permeable soil that is
well drained.
' Soils with a great deal of humusy
matter incorporated in them are
darker in color (a more satisfying
color to a gardener), can buffer
against shortages or over-applica
tions of soluable minerals, and
permit better root growth. The
soluable minerals themselves can
be cheaply and easily supplied
from bagged fertilizer, either
organic or inorganic (but remem
ber that the plant can’t tell whether
it came from a factory or a cow).
Don’t overdo the bagged fertili
zer but remember that plants that
must grow a lot, such as corn,
lettuce, cabbage and spinach,
respond to a lawn-type fertilizer
with a high first figure; those that
fruit or grow edible roots such as
peas, beans, eggplant, pepper,
tomato, beet and carrot, respond to
a fertilizer with high middle and
last figures (e.g., 10:15:20.)
Whetherforflowers, vegetables
dr new lawn, the garden soil should
be tilled at least six inches deep.
This is the time to work in organic
matter. Rake level and remove
stones, weeds and weed grasses.
STRIP OFF SOD
If you are starting a new garden
in an area covered with grass,
there are two ways to deal with the
situation: Either strip off the sod
and stack it grass to grass, to rot
down into topsoil you can use later,
or bury it deeply by double
digging, laying the old sod pieces
face down at the bottom of the
trench that will be under the
vegetables. Do not simply chop it
up with a rotary tiller, or turn whole
clods upside down. That way you ’ll
wind up trying to weed it out from
among tender new vegetable or
flower shoots.
To further improve the soil, dig
under in fall any materials used for
a summer mulch such as leaves,
grass clippings, straw, or partly
worked compose, wood chips, or
sawdust (to which add ammonium
nitrate or other high nitrogen
fertilizer).
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