Garden Soil

I wanted to share with you one garden product that I really like. I found it at Lowe's (load it yourself) and Orchard (they load it for you), and the price difference is just 7 or 8 cents, if I remember right. I have use it for a couple of years, and today I was especially impressed with it. This "garden soil" is more like a mulch or compost. I have an old wooden garden cart (no rubber on the wheels) that is just sitting in my back yard. I usually have one of these bags of compost sitting on the cart, with one flat side open. I use this all around the garden, especially when I am planting my veggies (great around fruit trees, too). One of these bags has been open for a couple of weeks, and the sprinklers have watered it a bit. I lifted the flap of plastic that covered the opening, and there was a mushroom! This is good stuff as it has mycorrhizae, which the mushroom indicated it does. Mycorrhizae is a fungus that promotes all plant growth. It connects plants and trees, and helps each one share what the other needs in the way of nutrition--it is a symbiotic relationship, where it mutually benefits both plants/trees.

I used up the one bag of compost and opened another. I found a nice, big earthworm! That really surprised me! This is another indication that this is some good garden soil! I don't have any ties with this company, it's just that I really like this product.

Snow in Clovis?

No, spring is here! I just emptied our paper shredder in my garden box, and it looked a little bit like snow! Paper, shredded or otherwise, is considered brown matter, and is better if layered with green matter (such as freshly cut grass). When you start with bare ground, layer brown matter first. Green matter will take up nitrogen (to help break down the green matter) from the soil and deprive the plants of this much needed nutrient.

I still haven't gotten the coffee grounds, but I will soon. The coffee grounds are considered brown matter, too. It's all good, and the plants love it! The layers break down slowly and the plants are able to use the nutrients naturally. The thick mulch keeps the weeds from sprouting, so that means less work for me!

Mulch

Yesterday's post got me to thinking about mulch. It does more than just keep weeds from sprouting. It helps prevent soil erosion and increases water absorbency. Raindrops fall at 20 mph, and if they directly hit the soil, the soil particles will separate. The silt will clog the soil line and the water will, for the most part, run off instead of sinking in. When there is a heavy rain on bare soil, the run-off water can carry away topsoil, too. Wind erodes bare soil, as we have seen in our Valley. When we get a strong wind, visibility is like when we have heavy fog. That dust is the topsoil that has become airborne.

I have seen pictures of old farms, that show the little dugout house that originally was below ground level. After many years of farming and erosion, where nothing was added back to the soil, the farmer steps down from his front door to the soil level.

Mulch helps the soil retain all of the moisture it receives, there no run-off at all, and it drains down quickly. The soil is not exposed, so there is no wind erosion. Because the soil stays moist, earthworms flourish (other organisms, too). The mulch slowly breaks down feeding the earthworms and the plants. When the earthworms consume the mulch they turn it into a rich fertilizer that plants thrive on. All of this is an easy way to have a bountiful vegetable garden!

Mulching The Veggies

Now that I have made sure that the weed seeds have sprouted and been pulled, I am starting to build the soil in my new raised garden boxes. In one of my beds I am layering lawn clippings. I have done this with my original garden for years, even using clippings from bermuda grass (which never sprouted in my garden), and it helps to feed the little critters that help balance my eco-system.

In another bed, I have started layering leaf cuttings, making a crude mulch. I have done this in my original bed, too, for the last few years, and found the soil come alive with earthworm activity! I have had earthworms before, but not like there is now. So, what works for me in one bed should work in my other beds! This method is not for everyone (it drives my husband nuts!), as it is really messy looking. And, if you don't get the weeds first, it's harder to get them pulled, although with a mulch layer the annual weeds have less chance to sprout and grow.

These types of "mulch" will break down slowly, creating an ideal soil. I do not dig in these gardens, I let the earthworms do that for me! When I remove vegetable plants that are finished, I don't pull them out, I cut them off just below ground level. The roots are left to decompose in the ground, and this helps to aerate the soil, too. When I fertilize my vegetables (if I get around to it!), I put a little organic fertilizer around the base of each plant, gently rough the soil, and then water well.

In The Garden

Here are three plants that are growing quite close together: spinach, zucchini, and chard. The spinach was planted a few months ago. I planted the zucchini near the spinach thinking that the spinach would soon be setting seed and be gone before the zucchini was spreading out. Wrong! The chard was from some that I direct-sowed when I planted the spinach. Most of the chard came up, I harvested some of it and then it bolted (went to seed) when the early hot weather hit. This chard plant was a surprise when it came up a couple of weeks ago. The zucchini and chard will be fighting it out, because the spinach is finally on it's way to set seed. At least they all look healthy and happy!



This is a picture of one of my Contender Bush Beans. I believe this damage is from leaf hoppers. There are only two of the bean plants that shows damage, so I won't do anything about it. Normally I don't think twice when I see something like this because the plants still look healthy and continue to grow, but I looked into it for your benefit. Yea, I know, what kind of Master Gardener am I?!? I don't think this is a serious problem and let nature take it's course.

This picture shows what happens when your mulch is too thin. To discourage weeds you need at least a couple of inches of mulch, covering the soil well (which I obviously didn't do!). Most of this bed is still weed-free.

OK, I found my weeding knife. I found it put away. I guess I was so tired from weeding the other night that I forgot that I put it away, and thought I had lost it!

Mulching The Veggies

This picture shows one end of my main box garden. I have Roma tomatoes, Contender Bush Beans (lighter green), Bountiful Esther Dry Beans (darker green), Amish Melon (hard to see, it's planted between the tomato rows), and Sumter Pickling Cucumbers (there is a trellis in the upper left corner of the picture; the plants are about 6" tall and hard to see, too). You can see the mulch around the tomatoes (there is straw around the beans). This mulch started out like the weeds in the picture below. With our hot days coming on it doesn't take long for the weeds to become a nice mulch once they are pulled and layed on the soil. It takes just a few days and the weed/mulch turns from green to brown.

This picture shows what I did last night. The crabgrass, plus a few nutsedges, was about 18" high, the soil was moist (not wet), and so I used my trusty knife to get the weeds pulled. This is a mixed bed of flowers and vegetables---I couldn't wait for my new raised garden boxes and I just planted vegetables everywhere earlier this spring! I pulled the weeds and layed them down on the ground. It is hot enough that the weeds wither in a day or two and won't re-grow. I worked until it was so dark that I couldn't see the weeds anymore. When I stopped to go in the house, I realized that my knife was nowhere to be found! I suppose it is under the weeds somewhere!! I will look for it later today or tomorrow, and hopefully I will find it!

I bought these strawberries and boysenberries this morning. Guess what I am doing this afternoon?!? I am making my Berry Good Jam. I just use the pectin recipe for strawberry jam, but substitute boysenberries for half of the strawberries. It has a wonderful flavor and is very easy to make! I didn't have enough of this jam to last me through last year, so I am making sure I have plenty this year!