Tips on Building Garden Soil

In Part 1 on Knowing your Garden Soil we looked at soil make up. Now let’s look at way we can “build” and improve our garden soil.

Newspapers may be put in the vegetable garden between the rows of vegetables. Lay them flat, throw a few incites of soil on them to keep them from blowing away. In this way, they conserve moisture and add humus to the soil when decomposed.

Most of the southwestern and western regions of the country have an alkaline soil. The pH test averages 7.51. Seven is neutral. When we have dry Summers and water a lot, the lime in the water raises the alkalinity. Not many plants can live in a soil above 8. Rain is acid. In view of this how can we combat alkalinity? Order more rain? That is futile, but we can conserve moisture and make what we have last longer. Soil that has a lot of humus doesn’t require water oftener than every ten days in hottest weather. Humus acts as a jug to hold moisture. Bacteria working on the humus give off acid, thus combating alkalinity in two ways. Plant beds that are mulched with peanut hulls, grass clippings, barnyard fertilizer, stable bedding, cotton burs, cottonseed hulls, leaves, sawdust, and other things do not require nearly so much moisture. Sawdust will hold five times its weight in water. In mulched areas the evaporation is not so great, because the soil surface is cooler.

Strategically planted trees can do much to save moisture. The hot sun tends to pull moisture from the earth, and shaded areas help to alleviate this condition. Shade also protects plants from the drying effect of sun and wind.

Irrigation should be done by spray. Have a fine nozzle. Some loss of water will occur from evaporation. but the gentle moisture drops are good for both soil and plants. Laying the hose down on the ground and just. letting it run is very detrimental to heavy soils. If this type of irrigation has been followed for some time in heavy soils, they run together and the water will not penetrate. A good test to make to see how well the soil is taking up water, is to push a slender rod into the ground after irrigating. It will go down easily as far as the water has penetrated.

Plants need to have a bath, too. Long periods of drought makes dust more prevalent. The dust settles on the leaves, closing the Pores so the plant cannot breathe. so give them a shower when you water them.

Plant foods are easily leached from pure sand. To make the too sandy soil more productive, add clay for minerals and humus foe food and to hold moisture. After a few years of growing plants, a phosphorous shortage may appear. Applications of hone-meal or rock-phosphate will answer the question.

Chemical fertilizers used year after year without the addition of organic material will ruin a soil. They have their use. They can answer a plant’s need in the same way that a shot in the arm can give added energy to the run-down person. Used wisely, they are an asset to the grower of plants.

Luther Burbank once said that he could grow plants from any part of the world in a soil mixture of one-third sand, one-third garden clay and one-third organic matter in the form of compost, leafmold or well-rotted manure. With this formula in mind work toward that end and you will he rewarded with success in gardening.

by E Johnson

Related Articles Of Interest:

• Know Your Garden Soil
• Should You Test Soil Acidity and Alkalinity Before Landscaping?
• How to Make Soil Acid
• Soil pH Makes the Difference