Healthy Soil Equal Bountiful Harvest

Continue turning the soil over until the whole plot is upside-down, cleaned up, and broken into little pieces. Now comes the fun part: add a healthy layer (two to four inches) of rich, dark compost or well-rotted animal waste. If your soil is clay and tends to be dense, "sticky" and easily compacted, an additional inch or two of coarse organic material like shredded leaves or straw will help loosen it up. It's not a good idea to add sand to clay soil...you may end up with something like concrete. Peatmoss will help to loosen clay soil, but may strain your early spring budget. (A common misconception, widely encouraged by the peatmoss marketing industry, pronounces that this very old organic material adds health and vitality to just about any soil. Not so: peatmoss, as it comes out of the bag, is as close to nutritionally and biologically dead as it can possibly be. Don't rely on peatmoss to add life and plant food to your garden. . .it can't do that.)

Now turn and mix it all loosely into your topsoil. Once again, cut in as deeply as you can with a good spade. Avoid walking on it after that—if you've done your job well, you'll sink past your ankles and compact your soil. I keep a couple of old 12-inch-wide boards handy to walk on while planting or doing any raking or furrowing.

One final important "key" completes the story: we use a lot of bonemeal in our fields and gardens. Bonemeal is high in phosphorus (usually 12 or 16). Bonemeal encourages and promotes flowers and fruit, strong stems and roots, foliage that can handle most summer abuse and, most importantly, is a wholly natural form of fertilizer. It is a little expensive, but once applied (then thoroughly mixed in, not left on the surface) it provides a constant source of phosphorus for about three years.


source : hydroponic

Healthy Soil Equal Bountiful Harvest

   
Author: Fred Davis

Spring will be upon us before you know it, and it's about time to give some serious thought to the quality and content your garden's soil—that literal foundation for all things happening in the garden. Soils are at the heart and soul of successful gardening. Yet soils are almost universally the single most neglected "key" to gardening success!

Who in his right mind would even think of building a home without first providing a strong and reliable foundation for it to rest upon? Just as the man in the New Testament who built his house upon a bed of unstable sand soon lost it to wind and rain, the gardener who builds a home for plants without a good foundation—neglecting to thoroughly prepare the soil and become aware of its nutritional content and capacity—is destined to witness the rapid decline and demise of his or her hard work!

To be honest, if not downright blunt, if you don't do a real bang-up job of preparing the soil (the "foundation") before you plant, you'd probably be better off seeding it in wildflowers or green-tinted asphalt. That's how important soil preparation really is. Remember: it is a vital, yet widely neglected, key to successful gardening.

How do you achieve the almost perfect, deep, rich, dark and loose soil? It takes a full-size spade, plenty of elbow grease, usually a considerable amount of organic matter, and an almost infinite amount of persistence and patience.


source : hydroponic

The average composition

The average composition of unleached wood ashes in the market is about as follows: Potash, 5.2 per cent; phosphoric acid, 1.70 per cent; lime, 34 per cent; magnesia, 3.40 per cent. The average composition of kainit is 13.54 per cent potash, 1.15 per cent lime.

The fact that the soil itself is the greatest storehouse of plant-food is shown by the following average of thirty-five analyses of the total content of the first eight inches of surface soils, per acre: 3521 pounds of nitrogen, 4400 pounds of phosphoric acid, 19,836 pounds of potash. Much of this is unavailable, but good tillage, green-manuring, and proper management tend to unlock it and at the same time to save it from waste.

Every careful gardener will take satisfaction in saving leaves and trimmings and stable refuse and making compost of it to supplement the native supplies in the soil. Some out-of-the-way corner will be found for a permanent pile, with room for piling it over from time to time. The pile will be screened by his garden planting. (Figure 121 suggests a useful cart for collecting such materials.) He will also save the power of his land by changing his crops to other parts of the garden, year by year, not growing his China asters or his snap-dragons or his potatoes or strawberries continuously on the same area; and thus, also, will his garden have a new face every year.

Lest the reader may get the idea that there is no limit to be placed on the enriching of the soil, I will caution him at the end of my discussion that he may easily make the place so rich that some plants will overgrow and will not come into flowering or fruiting before frost, and flowers may lack brilliancy. On very rich land, scarlet sage will grow to great size but will not bloom in the northern season; sweet peas will run to vine; gaillardias and some other plants will break down; tomatoes and melons and peppers may be so late that the fruit will not ripen. Only experience and good judgment will safeguard the gardener as to how far he should or should not go.

source : hydroponic

The chief sources

The chief sources of commercial potash are muriate of potash, sulfate of potash, and wood ashes. For general purposes, the muriate of potash is now recommended, because it is comparatively cheap and the composition is uniform. A normal application of muriate of potash is 200 to 300 pounds to the acre; but on some lands, where the greatest results are demanded, sometimes as much as twice this application may be made.

Phosphoric acid is got in dissolved South Carolina and Florida rock and in various bone preparations. These materials are applied at the rate of 200 to 400 pounds to the acre.

Commercial nitrogen is secured chiefly in the form of animal refuse, as blood and tankage, and in nitrate of soda. It is more likely to be lost by leaching through the land than the mineral substances are, especially if the land lacks humus. Nitrate of soda is very soluble, and should be applied in small quantities at intervals. Nitrogen, being the element which is mostly conducive to vegetative growth, tends to delay the season of maturity if applied heavily or late in the season. From 100 to 300 pounds of nitrate of soda may be applied to the acre, but it is ordinarily better to make two or three applications at intervals of three to six weeks. Fertilizing materials may be applied either in fall or spring; but in the case of nitrate of soda it is usually better not to apply in the fall unless the land has plenty of humus to prevent leaching, or on plants that start very early in the spring.

Fertilizing material is sown broadcast, or it may be scattered lightly in furrows underneath the seeds, and then covered with earth. If sown broadcast, it may be applied either after the seeds are sown or before. It is usually better to apply it before, for although the rains carry it down, nevertheless the upward movement of water during the dry weather of the summer tends to bring it back to the surface. It is important that large lumps of fertilizer, especially muriate of potash and nitrate of soda, do not fall near the crowns of the plants; otherwise the plants may be seriously injured. It is a general principle, also, that it is best to use more sparingly of fertilizers than of tillage. The tendency is to make fertilizers do penance for the sins of neglect, but the results do not often meet one's expectations.

If one has only a small garden or a home yard, it ordinarily will not pay him to buy the chemicals separately, as suggested above, but he may purchase a complete fertilizer that is sold under a trademark or brand, and has a guaranteed analysis. If one is raising plants chiefly for their foliage, as rhubarb and ornamental bushes, he should choose a fertilizer comparatively rich in nitrogen; but if he desires chiefly fruit and flowers, the mineral elements, as potash and phosphoric acid, should usually be high. If one uses the chemicals, it is not necessary that they be mixed before application; in fact, it is usually better not to mix them, because some plants and some soils need more of one element than of another. Just what materials, and how much, different soils and plants require must be determined by the grower himself by observation and experiment; and it is one of the satisfactions of gardening to arrive at discrimination in such matters.


source : hydroponic

Gardening - Working the Soil Fertilizing material

Fertilizing material is sown broadcast, or it may be scattered lightly in furrows underneath the seeds, and then covered with earth. If sown broadcast, it may be applied either after the seeds are sown or before. It is usually better to apply it before, for although the rains carry it down, nevertheless the upward movement of water during the dry weather of the summer tends to bring it back to the surface. It is important that large lumps of fertilizer, especially muriate of potash and nitrate of soda, do not fall near the crowns of the plants; otherwise the plants may be seriously injured. It is a general principle, also, that it is best to use more sparingly of fertilizers than of tillage. The tendency is to make fertilizers do penance for the sins of neglect, but the results do not often meet one's expectations.

If one has only a small garden or a home yard, it ordinarily will not pay him to buy the chemicals separately, as suggested above, but he may purchase a complete fertilizer that is sold under a trademark or brand, and has a guaranteed analysis. If one is raising plants chiefly for their foliage, as rhubarb and ornamental bushes, he should choose a fertilizer comparatively rich in nitrogen; but if he desires chiefly fruit and flowers, the mineral elements, as potash and phosphoric acid, should usually be high. If one uses the chemicals, it is not necessary that they be mixed before application; in fact, it is usually better not to mix them, because some plants and some soils need more of one element than of another. Just what materials, and how much, different soils and plants require must be determined by the grower himself by observation and experiment; and it is one of the satisfactions of gardening to arrive at discrimination in such matters.

The average composition of unleached wood ashes in the market is about as follows: Potash, 5.2 per cent; phosphoric acid, 1.70 per cent; lime, 34 per cent; magnesia, 3.40 per cent. The average composition of kainit is 13.54 per cent potash, 1.15 per cent lime.


source : hydroponic

Gardening - Working the Soil Enriching the land

Two problems are involved in the fertilizing of the land: the direct addition of plant-food, and the improvement of the physical structure of the soil. The latter office is often the more important.

Lands that, on the one hand, are very hard and solid, with a tendency to bake, and, on the other, that are loose and leachy, are very greatly benefited by the addition of organic matter. When this organic matter--as animal and plant remains--decays and becomes thoroughly incorporated with the soil, it forms what is called humus. The addition of this humus makes the land mellow, friable, retentive of moisture, and promotes the general chemical activities of the soil. It also puts the soil in the best physical condition for the comfort and well-being of the plants. Very many of the lands that are said to be exhausted of plant-food still contain enough potash, phosphoric acid, and lime, and other fertilizing elements, to produce good crops; but they have been greatly injured in their physical condition by long-continued cropping, injudicious tillage, and the withholding of vegetable matter. A part of the marked results secured from the plowing under of clover is due to the incorporation of vegetable matter, wholly aside from the addition of fertilizing material; and this is emphatically true of clover because its deep-growing roots penetrate and break up the subsoil.

Muck and leafmold are often very useful in ameliorating either very hard or very loose lands. Excellent humous material may be constantly at hand if the leaves, garden refuse, and some of the manure are piled and composted. If the pile is turned several times a year, the material becomes fine and uniform in texture.


source : hydroponic

Gardening - Working the Soil As often as the surface

As often as the surface becomes compact, the mulch should be renewed or repaired by the use of the rake or cultivator or harrow. Persons are deceived by supposing that so long as the surface remains moist, the land is in the best possible condition; a moist surface may mean that water is rapidly passing off into the atmosphere. A dry surface may mean that less evaporation is taking place, and there may be moister earth beneath it; and moisture is needed below the surface rather than on top. A finely raked bed is dry on top; but the footprints of the cat remain moist, for the animal packed the soil wherever it stepped and a capillary connection was established with the water reservoir beneath. Gardeners advise firming the earth over newly planted seeds to hasten germination. This is essential in dry times; but what we gain in hastening germination we lose in the more rapid evaporation of moisture. The lesson is that we should loosen the soil as soon as the seeds have germinated, to reduce evaporation to the minimum. Large seeds, as beans and peas, may be planted deep and have the earth firmed about them, and then the rake may be applied to the surface to stop the rise of moisture before it reaches the air.

When the land is once properly prepared, the soil-mulch is maintained by surface-working tools. In field practice, these tools are harrows and horse cultivators of various kinds; in home garden practice they are wheel-hoes, rakes, and many patterns of hand hoes and scarifiers, with finger-weeders and other small implements for work directly among the plants.




source : hydroponic