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. , How to Create a Zen Soils , Choose the Right Outdoor Bench that Suits Both You and Your Garden are at the heart and soul of successful gardening. , Indoor With Foliage Plants Yet soils , Fruit Trees - How To Save Your Fruit Tree Blossoms From A Spring Freeze are almost universally the single most neglected "key" to gardening , How To Bring An Old Lawn Back to Life success! Who in his right mind would even think of building , Choose the Right Outdoor Bench that Suits Both You and Your Garden a home , Decorative Concrete - The Beginnings 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 , For The Most Luxurious Dining Outdoors: Ready Or Not, Outdoor Kitchens Are Here! upon a bed , Backpack Blowers of unstable sand , Tips for Buying Plants Online soon lost it to wind and rain, the gardener who builds a home , Our History with Blueberries - Reviving Their -Grown and Local Farm Status for plants , Controlling Aphids without a good foundation"ā€¯neglecting to thoroughly prepare the soil , How to Create a Zen Garden 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 , Insect Spray Warnings and Healthy Alternatives (the "foundation") before you plant, , 5 Pieces of Equipment Gardeners Can't Live Without you'd probably be better off seeding it in wildflowers , Rose Gardening: Water, Sun and Shade or green-tinted asphalt. That's how important soil , Adirondack Chairs - How to Care for and Clean Them preparation really is. Remember: it is a vital, yet widely neglected, key to successful gardening. , Design Your Own Rose Garden 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 , Controlling Aphids matter, and an almost infinite amount of persistence and patience. Some prefer to prepare their garden , Discover the Single Most Important Trick to Overwintering Pond Fish 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 , Backyard Landscape Plan - Think About Your Family's Lifestyle First 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 , Decorative Concrete - The Beginnings completely upside-down. Pick out any weeds, , Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) 'White Ball' stones, , Design Your Own Rose Garden roots , Decorative Concrete - The Beginnings or anything else that doesn't belong. A good sharp edge on your shovel helps cut through tree , Hibiscus Flowers feeder-roots. Break soil , Natural Gardens lumps into small particles. Watch for destructive soil , Fragrant Fine Art: Give your Garden a Design That's All Your Own insects"ā€¯wireworms, grubs and cutworms, for example"ā€¯and send any you find into eternal oblivion. A few gardening , Bring the Smell of Nature into Your Home with These Fragrant Flowers 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 , Our History with Blueberries - Reviving Their Home-Grown and Local Farm Status over until the whole plot is upside-down, cleaned up, and broken into little pieces. Now comes the fun part: add a healthy , Choose the Right Outdoor Bench that Suits Both You and Your Garden layer (two to four inches) of rich, dark compost , Introducting KOI-Cam! or well-rotted animal waste. If your soil , Beauty After life - Plants For Drying - Grasses is clay and tends to be dense, "sticky" and easily compacted, an additional inch or two of coarse organic , How to Create a Zen Garden material like shredded leaves or straw , Organic Gardening will help loosen it up. It's not a good idea to add sand , Backpack Blowers to clay soil. , Our History with Blueberries - Reviving Their Home-Grown and Local Farm Status ..you may end up with something like concrete. , Rose Gardening: Water, Sun and Shade Peatmoss will help to loosen clay soil, , Controlling Aphids but may strain your early spring , Beauty After life - Plants For Drying - Grasses budget. (A common misconception, widely encouraged by the peatmoss marketing industry, pronounces that this very old organic , Backpack Blowers material adds health and vitality to just about any soil. , Indoor Gardening With Foliage Plants 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 , Tips for Buying s Online food to your garden. , How to Create a Zen . .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. , Wild Flower Garden - Recreate the Splendor of Nature in Your Own Backyard 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. , Things You Should Consider When Buying Your First Leaf Blower Bonemeal is high in phosphorus (usually 12 or 16). Bonemeal encourages and promotes flowers , For The Most Luxurious Dining Outdoors: Ready Or Not, Outdoor Kitchens Are Here! and fruit, , Tuscan Garden Design strong stems and roots, , Rose Gardening foliage that can handle most summer , For The Most Luxurious Dining Outdoors: Ready Or Not, Outdoor Kitchens Are Here! abuse and, most importantly, is a wholly natural , Gardens 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 , Should You Hire a Landscape Designer? a few weeks before you plant , Controlling Aphids 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 , Planning Your Patio Garden test so you'll know exactly what your soil , Things You Should Consider When Buying Your First Garden Leaf Blower has and precisely what it needs to make your garden , Our History with Blueberries - Reviving Their Home-Grown and Local Farm Status more productive of healthier plants , How To Bring An Old Lawn Back to Life 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 , Decorative Concrete - The Beginnings 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 , Tips for Buying Plants Online articles: http://www.HillGardens.com Fred Davis is a Master Gardener, Master Composter, , Outdoor Lighting Fixtures are a Top Priority for Night Safety lecturer, and long-time nurseryman. He and his wife, Linda, own and operate a popular perennial , Growing Grass Under Trees nursery in Palermo, Maine, and maintain a no-frills gardening , Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) 'White Ball' information website at: http://www.HillGardens.com/, where you'll find answers to your gardening , Growing Grass Under Trees questions. |
  
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