If you read the last post, you might think we put a lot of emphasis on dirt. For pitiful gardeners, this is a really important point. Please believe us; it will make your gardening life so much easier and successful. So we’re going to mention it again. Having had a couple of occasions to work on other gardening projects lately, we see this vital foundation being ignored.
We know very well that even the most reluctant gardener gets inspired to work in the garden in the spring, especially after a gray and dreary winter. We know how hard it is to resist the colorful bursts of flowers populating the nurseries right now. But dear pitiful gardener, you must resist — at least for the moment. Take a look at your gardening budget (if any), and dedicate a good portion of it to soil amendment. Are you feeling resistance about now?!
In one large flower bed makeover, all the existing plants and trees were removed. With nothing but bare ground remaining where there had once been green shrubs, it was ever so tempting to rush in with new plantings. Since the old plants were gone, you might think there was no competition for nutrients and everything would be fine. But for several previous decades, nothing had been added to that soil. Most likely, the plants that had been there at one time had depleted it, and the ones that survived could exist in those conditions. But unless you’re replanting the exact same things (and what would be the point of that?), you’ve got to make ideal conditions for the new stuff.
In this case, rototilling was the first task. The soil was compacted. Who wants to dig in that? Breaking up the soil makes your work easier, and invites the worms to do their miracles. Then, yards of soil mixed with rotted manure was added. Yummy!
Now compare this to the gardeners who wanted a new flowerbed carved out of piece of their lawn. They did right in buying the dirt. But rather than taking up the sod first, in their haste they just heaped it on the lawn, figuring it will smother the grass. And it will…eventually. If they only put in pretty things with shallow roots, they’ll be okay. But as soon they want to plant something bigger, they have to dig through that hard soil. It will take forever for the worms to turn over that stuff…whereas you can make their job a quick one if help them out by breaking it up.
Want to know if your soil is healthy – look for worms. Or add some! Whenever you turn over a shovelful of your dirt, you should see some of your wiggling helpers.
Now we know you want the showy stuff, but it won’t be showy for long if there’s not a good foundation under foot to support it. Take it from a gal who has proven this time and again by slighting it. Tracy will have to share her personal disaster of trying to garden in clay in Texas in one of these posts. Face it, your plants can’t grow without good dirt! Believe it or not, good dirt cuts down on your work — you don’t have to overwater or overfeed or underwater or guess or fuss and your plants flourish practically on their own.
If you feel your dirt is pretty good, and not pretty awful, then just add amendments each year, like peat moss. Your choice of amendments depends on the needs of your soil. You could take a bag of your existing soil to a nursery and ask one of their experts to analyze it. Your plants will reward you if you’ve done a thorough job…they’ll be smiling at you with their bright flowers. Don’t waste your time or money buying new plants until you do this!
