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| Gardening Basics |
The Garden Bed Many local soils are heavy clay or sandy and should be generously amended. Add organic matter. Tilling wet soil can destroy soil structure by compacting. Soil should be loose, use stepping stones to avoid compacting it. The garden site should be spaded to a depth of 8 to 12 inches, leveled & raked to remove any large clods & debris. Use a balanced fertilizer and mix into soil. Organic fertilizer will remain in the soil longer than chemical fertilizers. After planting, apply 2 - 3 inches of organic mulch to prevent drought, stress, weeds and to provide insulation. At the end of the season, work it into the soil and apply a new layer of compost or mulch. Then work that mulch into the soil and re-top with new mulch at the end of that season. And so on and so on... THAT is soil building. Cut & come again annual herbs should be given light applications of fertilizer after a heavy harvest. Crop rotation is vital to prevent soil deficiencies. You can avoid depletion of nutrients by planting a legume after a heavy feeder such as corn and to replenish the nitrogen in the soil. Rotate your root crops, leafy crops, heavy feeders & cover crops. Don't plant annual nightshade plants in the same place every year (tomatos, peppers, potatoes, eggplant), you'll encourage blight and soil-based disease if you don't rotate.
Keep a garden map or journal to keep track of what you planted, where and when you planted it. Update it every season! It helps you avoid placing plants on top of each other in the Spring
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Compost Happens
| Vermicomposting uses earthworms to make compost. Worms can eat their body weight daily in organic matter; convert it into dark, soil enriching castings full of live micro organisms, growth hormones, nutrients; humic acids which condition the soil and a neutral pH. |
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Organic soil amendments and conditioners increase plant productivity. Healthy plants grow & taste better, store longer, resist insect attacks, cold, heat, drought and disease. Composting is a great recycling process, it improves soil structure, increasing the soil’s ability to hold moisture, helps soil aeration, fertilization and nitrogen storage. It buffers pH, releases nutrients, and provides food for microbial life. Everyone has access to decaying plant wastes, grass clippings, fall leaves and vegetable scraps, etc. Use these green materials to speed compost action: yarrow, hollyhock, marigolds, chamomile, chicory, strawberry greens, ferns, alfalfa, black walnut, dock, sorrel, elder, moss, comfrey, dandilion, coltsfoot, nettles, sage, valerian and eel grass. Kitchen waste is great in compost and reduces your garbage bills. Don't put in the compost: meats, dairy, fats or oils. Pile it & keep it turned. Keep it moist, not wet, Fluff it with a pitchfork to keep air pockets in it. Add weeds to compost pile only if temperature is above 145 degrees. Container gardening: don't use organic material. Soilless potting mixes have no resistance to organic or soil based bacterias, fungi, diseases, etc. |
Deadheading (removing spent blooms and seed pods) will promote more blooming on most varieties.
Deadheading weeds prevents thousands more weeds from popping up.