Healthy Soils Equal Bountiful Harvest!
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Article by: Fred Davis Spring will be upon us before you know it, and it's about time to give some serious thought to the quality and content your garden's soil"ā€¯that literal foundation for all things happening in the garden. , Uninvited Houseguests Soils , You Can Grow Your Own Herb Garden - Part 2 are at the heart and soul of successful gardening. , Adirondack Chairs - The Proper Way to Care for Them Yet soils , Variety In Garden Plants - How To Choose The Best Plants For Your Garden are almost universally the single most neglected "key" to gardening , Water Lilies - Pruning and Trimming success! Who in his right mind would even think of building , Growing Great Asparagus a home , Orchid Care - What The Root Tells Us without first providing a strong and reliable foundation for it to rest upon? Just as the man in the New Testament who built his house , How to Grow Chocolate Cosmos upon a bed , Gardening For Birds of unstable sand , Orchid Care - What The Root Tells Us soon lost it to wind and rain, the gardener who builds a home , Exotic Plants and Flowers for Guys: Trends in Flowers as Elegant as they are Masculine for plants , Which of the Hundreds of Tomato Varieties Should I ? without a good foundation"ā€¯neglecting to thoroughly prepare the soil , Orchids Plus More Newsletter - December, 2004 and become aware of its nutritional content and capacity"ā€¯is destined to witness the rapid decline and demise of his or her hard work! To be honest, if not downright blunt, if you don't do a real bang-up job of preparing the soil , Some Favorite Garden Bulbs (the "foundation") before you plant, , How to Build Your Own Backyard Bat Cave you'd probably be better off seeding it in wildflowers , Like Fall Flowers - A Tip To Care For Your Winter Garden Pond or green-tinted asphalt. That's how important soil , Growing Great Asparagus preparation really is. Remember: it is a vital, yet widely neglected, key to successful gardening. , Gift Ideas for Bird Lovers How do you achieve the almost perfect, deep, rich, dark and loose soil? It takes a full-size spade, plenty of elbow grease, usually a considerable amount of organic , Giving Seeds What They Need In Storage matter, and an almost infinite amount of persistence and patience. Some prefer to prepare their garden , Wildlife in Winter Ponds plot with a small rototiller, but little tillers simply cannot get the job done right. Most tillers are made to scratch the surface down to about four"ā€¯maybe five"ā€¯inches deep. A home , Outdoor Lighting Fixtures garden sized machine that'll cut six inches is a rarity. Tillers do have their purpose but it usually comes later, after the real work is done. Most shovels cut eleven or twelve inches deep...and that's what you should do: drive that shovel straight down right to the hilt and turn the soil , Do Garden Statues Have a Place in a Modern Garden? completely upside-down. Pick out any weeds, , Why Gardening is Better stones, , Finding Garden Benches: Get the Perfect Look for Your Garden roots , Adirondack Chairs - The Proper Way to Care for Them or anything else that doesn't belong. A good sharp edge on your shovel helps cut through tree , Why Teak Coffee Tables Are Essential For Your Outdoor Space feeder-roots. Break soil , Which of the Hundreds of Tomato Varieties Should I Plant? lumps into small particles. Watch for destructive soil , Patio Awnings Add Space to Your Living Area insects"ā€¯wireworms, grubs and cutworms, for example"ā€¯and send any you find into eternal oblivion. A few gardening , Finding Garden Benches: Get the Perfect Look for Your Garden authorities suggest what's called "double-digging" which involves digging another ten or twelve inches below that, into the subsoil. While it may work in the Great Plains states, that kind of soil-depth luxury isn't seen very often in the shallow, stony topsoils of Northern New England. Do the best you can. Continue turning the soil , Outdoor Lighting Fixtures over until the whole plot is upside-down, cleaned up, and broken into little pieces. Now comes the fun part: add a healthy , Finding Garden Benches: Get the Perfect Look for Your Garden layer (two to four inches) of rich, dark compost , Discount Garden Benches or well-rotted animal waste. If your soil , Some Favorite Garden Bulbs is clay and tends to be dense, "sticky" and easily compacted, an additional inch or two of coarse organic , Choosing Lawnmowers For Cutting Grass On Tennis Courts material like shredded leaves or straw , Cattleya Orchid Plant - Why They Are Not Popular will help loosen it up. It's not a good idea to add sand , Why Teak Coffee Tables Are Essential For Your Outdoor Space to clay soil. , Variety In Garden Plants - How To Choose The Best Plants For Your Garden ..you may end up with something like concrete. , Patio Awnings Add Space to Your Living Area Peatmoss will help to loosen clay soil, , Lawn Disease And What To Do About It but may strain your early spring , A Choice New Hydrangea With Variegated Foliage budget. (A common misconception, widely encouraged by the peatmoss marketing industry, pronounces that this very old organic , Landscape Gardening material adds health and vitality to just about any soil. , How to Grow Organic Roses Not so: peatmoss, as it comes out of the bag, is as close to nutritionally and biologically dead as it can possibly be. Don't rely on peatmoss to add life and plant , Like Fall Flowers - A Tip To Care For Your Winter Garden Pond food to your garden. , Taking Inside Comfort Outside: A Look at Outdoor Patio Heaters for the Home . .it can't do that.) Now turn and mix it all loosely into your topsoil. Once again, cut in as deeply as you can with a good spade. Avoid walking on it after that"ā€¯if you've done your job well, you'll sink past your ankles and compact your soil. , Great Gardening Gift Ideas I keep a couple of old 12-inch-wide boards handy to walk on while planting or doing any raking or furrowing. One final important "key" completes the story: we use a lot of bonemeal in our fields and gardens. , Cattleya Orchid Plant - Why They Are Not Popular Bonemeal is high in phosphorus (usually 12 or 16). Bonemeal encourages and promotes flowers , Adirondack Chairs - The Proper Way to Care for Them and fruit, , Tillers - How to Find the Right Tiller for the Job strong stems and roots, , Planting Roses (Bare or Semi Bare Root) foliage that can handle most summer , Color in the Garden abuse and, most importantly, is a wholly natural , Discount Garden Benches form of fertilizer. It is a little expensive, but once applied (then thoroughly mixed in, not left on the surface) it provides a constant source of phosphorus for about three years. There is a down side, however: even the so-called deodorized type of bonemeal will attract skunks, raccoons, and the neighbor's little digger-dog for about two weeks following application. The solution: either mask the faint odor with something stronger, like a "tea" made from "blenderized" garlic, or prepare your soil , A Choice New Hydrangea With Variegated Foliage a few weeks before you plant , The Perfect Fern for Shady Gardens so they can dig (cultivate!) to their hearts' content without doing any real damage. Now you're ready! Well, almost. The final step before planting is another very important "key""ā€¯a soil , Giving Seeds What They Need In Storage test so you'll know exactly what your soil , Ticks has and precisely what it needs to make your garden , Variety In Plants - How To Choose The Best Plants For Your Garden more productive of healthier plants , Some Favorite Garden Bulbs and harvest...and you a better (certainly better-informed!) gardener. Your state's Cooperative Extension Service has free collection/mailing containers and detailed instructions. Samples are then mailed to the State Soil , Outdoor Lighting Fixtures Testing Lab., and it usually takes about two to three weeks to get your results back. Cost is in the range of $10 - $12. Fairly economical "success" insurance!Visit Fred's website to view more of his gardening , Tillers - How to Find the Right Tiller for the Job articles: http://www.HillGardens.com Fred Davis is a Master Gardener, Master Composter, , A Choice New Hydrangea With Variegated Foliage lecturer, and long-time nurseryman. He and his wife, Linda, own and operate a popular perennial , Do Garden Statues Have a Place in a Modern Garden? nursery in Palermo, Maine, and maintain a no-frills gardening , Wildlife in Winter Ponds information website at: http://www.HillGardens.com/, where you'll find answers to your gardening , Lawn Disease And What To Do About It questions. |
  
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