Potting Soil Chemistry for Healthy Plants and Healthy Garden

Growing and maintaining indoor plants and growing healthy, vibrant flowers without the right soil chemistry can be like expecting miracles. Good soil is one of the cornerstones of successful house plants and gardening, plus it is important to make sure that your soil will meet the needs of your plants before the first seed is planted.

While soil chemistry is important no matter what type of plants or flowers you’re growing, it is particularly critical when it comes to bulbs, perennials or other plants that remain in the ground for than one season.

Why? The chemistry of soil can change from year to year. So, if a formerly great blooming patch of a garden or houseplants are looking a bit haggard, the first place to expect is at the condition of the soil and roots. Erosion, overuse of pesticides and fertilizers plus other factors can impact the quality of the soil, so it is important to test the soil if you suspect a problem.

Garden soil should be tested anytime a new flower bed is prepared. It’s a mistake to assume that the soil make up and chemistry is the same everywhere on your property. Since the makeup of different patches of soil can be very different, due to past use, drainage, chemicals or residue in the ground, etc.

Do a thorough soil analysis prior to planting a bed of flowers. Most major cities have several laboratories that can do soil testing. You can also check your agricultual extension for testing. Be sure to contact such a lab to have the soil analyzed for pH level, and for levels of important plant nutrients. If you are unsure where to get the soil tested, be sure to ask the staff at your local nursery or garden center for a recommendation.

After you know the current condition of the soil, you’ll be in a better position to know how to amend and make the changes to the soil that are needed. Once you know the pH level, the level of organic material in the soil, the amount of clay, amount of sand, etc., you will be able to choose the right additives to provide your plants with what they need to thrive.

Most varieties of annuals, perennials and bulbs will grow well in a wide range of soil pH, but some plants have specific needs, and prefer soils that are either very alkaline or very acidic. The pH level of the soil can be a particularly critical factor when deciding what types of plants will work best. If your pH range is outside the norm, or if it needs to be amended, there are a number of ways to accomplish this goal.

For example, limestone can be used to make acidic soil more alkaline, while sulfur is often used to make very alkaline soil more acidic. A pH level that is out of balance can also be helped by adding humus. This rich soil can be created at home by using a compost bin, or it can be purchased ready made from a garden center or nursery. Changing the pH is a big factor when your fertilizing indoor house plants and not leaching out the soluble salts.

After you know the baseline content of your flower bed, it will be easier to track chemistry changes from year to year, and to make amendments as needed. The more you know about the quality of your soil, the more confident you can be that the plants you buy will thrive in your home garden.

Getting A Home Vegetable Garden Started

When selecting a site for the your home vegetable garden, drop the idea that the garden must be the ugliest spot around the house. When thoughtfully planned, carefully planted and thoroughly cared for, a home vegetable garden may be made a beautiful, peaceful feature of your homestead that no shrubs, trees, borders, boulders or beds can ever produce.

For many people the only place for the garden is - it must be out of sight! Sometimes you don’t have much choice because of the size of your property - you just have to do the best with what you have. When you have choices look first at exposure, and second, convenience. When possible select a spot that is close and with easy access. Watching the garden grow all of its vegetables is almost as important as the the convenient access. All those “forgot this” time-wasting trips makes you a believer and soon realize the impact.

The Importance of Exposure

When picking a home vegetable garden spot look at the sun exposure and all those delicious vegetables, but think long term and building on the garden for years.
A spot with a little sloping with a south or east exposure that can catch the early sunshine and hold it late but stays out of the direct path of the chilling north and northeast winds. A building, or an old fence can offer protection.

If that isn’t an option a hedge, a simple board fence, or even some low-growing shrubs or young evergreens, can help protect the vegetable garden. The importance of protection or shelter is greatly underestimated by “new gardener.”

Good Soil

The chances are slim you’ll find the ideal garden soil ready to go in your yard. Just about all soils can be improved for better production especially in the small areas home vegetable gardens require. Don’t be discouraged about the “current state” of your soil.

Soils usually are made or built - not found! The ideal garden soil is a “rich, sandy loam.”

Other All-Important Soil Factors

• Cultivation
• Moisture
• Temperature

“rich, sandy loam”

“Rich” in gardener’s vocabulary means full of plant food; meaning the plants can use of the nutrients, in one word, “available” plant food. Soils are “made” rich, or kept rich, in two ways; first, by cultivation, which helps to change the raw plant food stored in the soil into available forms; and second, by “elements” or adding plant food to the soil from outside sources.

“Sandy” means a soil containing enough particles of sand so water will pass through without leaving it sticky and pasty a few days after a rain; “light” enough, so a handful, under ordinary conditions, will crumble and fall apart readily after being pressed in the hand. It is not necessary that the soil be sandy in appearance, but it should be friable.

“Loam: a rich, friable soil,” says Webster. It is soil in which the sand and clay are in proper proportions, so that neither greatly predominate, and usually dark in color, from cultivation and enrichment. Such a soil, even to the untrained, just naturally looks as if it would grow things. It is remarkable how quickly the whole physical appearance of well cultivated ground will change.

So when picking your “home” vegetable garden spot - look at exposure and then “building” some good soil.

Unreal Indoor House Plants

Indoor house plants add some much to any interior, just the addition of greenery can help reduce stress. The impact on a room can be dramatic… however, the problem is that sometimes your “room” just doesn’t have enough light for the plant to do well.

Recently, while visiting Bon Vivant - a home decor store in Palm Coast, Florida I was surprised and amazed at the “unreal” indoor house plants this boutique store had on hand. Even though these plants were “man-made” they looked as if they were the real thing - the quality was unbelievable.

What was on Hand?

A seven foot Ficus benjamina full of dark green leaves with a very interesting trunk! Ferns that needed to be touched to see if the were real or not and a few 8′ foot bamboos to round out the mix. The bamboos added a special touch with a wonderful “airy” look and feel.

So… even though I’m partial to the “real thing” when using plants inside - sometimes the “unreal” is all that will work.

If you’re heading down I-95 to Orlando and Disney World, jump off and give Bon Vivant a visit — They have “Unreal” indoor house plants.

House Plants a Stress Buster

Indoor Plants can Bust Workplace Tension with a Green Stocking Stuffer!

Two-thirds of full-time workers across the nation say they experience stress in the workplace around the holidays. This according to a recent random sampling of 600 full-time workers at Accenture HR Services. Almost a quarter of the workers surveyed expressed that they have taken at least one day off in the past because of holiday stress.

Why All this Stress During the Holidays?

There are gifts to buy (house plants are a gift option) and time is running out. Your kids need extra time and care because they’re out of school. Then there are the holiday parties you’re obligated to attend but still need to do your grocery shopping. You planned to take a day off from work but several of your colleagues beat you to the punch - they already scheduled vacations or called in sick with the holiday shopping flu.

As for the major causes of holiday stress, 54 percent cited finding the time to shop for gifts, while 41 percent mentioned keeping up with day-to-day responsibilities. It’s no wonder then that the holiday season - with its merry “To Do” list - can lead us to a state of “extreme difficulty, pressure, or strain;” The American Heritage Dictionary’s apt definition of “stress.”

Boost the workplace greenery and reduce workplace stress levels this upcoming season—who knows, you may even put the “Happy” back in your “Holidays.”

“Greening” as a Stress Buster

Having plants inside does not just affect the indoor climate. Researchers have discovered that “seeing” greenery can result in a demonstrable reduction in stress within five minutes. Research in the Netherlands has shown that people who spend more than four hours a day working at a computer monitor feel better and are more productive with plants in the workplace! So this Holiday season keep a plant at your desk, and maybe buy one for the Scrooge down the hall.

Also Try the Following:

• Limit intake of caffeine, sugar and alcohol (stressors)
• Stay close to your live green plants. They reduce systolic blood pressure within five seconds of exposure.
• Increase your nutritional supplements.
• Do at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. A brisk walk out doors, workouts, swimming, yoga stretching, dancing, sports, Tai Chi etc.
• Take several 5 minute centered breathing breaks a day. Try relaxation visualizations to soft music.
• Scheduled pamper time. Massages, a facial, or hot bath.
• Get extra sleep and take naps whenever possible.

Mail Order Gardening Catalogs More Plants More Color

There is a wide selection of mail order gardening catalogs available online. No matter what kind of gardening and plants do you want to read about? To help you in your search for mail order sources, below are a few mail order and online gardening catalogs and websites offering gardening catalogs they can easily ship to you:

www.gardennursery.com

Nichols Garden Nursery’s mail order catalog unit offers supply of seeds and plants.
They offer a 76 page free gardening catalog that could be easily ordered through filling up their catalog request form online. Claiming that they do this for over 50 years already, they must be one of the best.

www.jacksonsnurseries.co.uk

Offering landscape design, ground design along with nursery facilities and wholesale. They claim too have the best plant stock pricing you’re dealing directly with the grower.

www.gurneys.com

Gurneys offers great deals for example when one orders a one kind of plant, it may mean that one order really is two plants. Featuring a no-risk guarantee and a scheduled shipping according to categories of plants, i.e., roses, herbs, shrubs, and trees, tender annuals, and all other plants and bulbs. They even offer a zip code driven growing zone locator.

www.mzbulb.com

McClure and Zimmerman seems to have just about every variety of flower bulbs you could be looking for. Their simple no fuss website navigation gives weekend gardeners an easy way for mail order garden catalog buying.

www.homeharvest.com

Home Harvest Garden Supply offers more items in the “alternative garden product” line like natural insect controls, organic fertilizers, hobby greenhouse, hydroponics, container, propagation and irrigation supplies, indoor plant grow lights and other rare gardening supplies. They offer an online catalog for every gardening enthusiast.

www.jacksonandperkins.com

Jackson and Perkins the name known as one of the best American gardening experts. Extending their reach to gardening aficionados through their website by offering gardening products that you could easily find in their mail order catalog. With a product line includes a wide range of plants - easy to grow perennials, special outdoor decor and new award-winning roses. Flowering gifts may also be delivered to worthy recipients just by ordering from their site.

www.thegardenwindow.com

This site offers an online catalog that specializes in imported Chinese tree peonies (from Mainland, China).

Free mail order and online catalogs are a good source of gardening supply information.

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