Simply Garden ~ Garden Simply!
Is gardening Simple you ask? Well it can be… but nothing is truly “Simple” when you don’t know what you are doing yet… BUT You want to Start learning and trying just a little at a time, keeping it simple enough so it doesn’t become completely overwhelming! So where to start?
Everyone Can Garden - If you know and control the Essentials!
The BIG Three Essentials to keeping plants alive!
1 - SOIL - Why does the Soil matter? “Top Soil” in Most Neighborhoods is usually NOT the best soil to grow plants in, frequently it is FULL of sand and Clay. Sand is helpful in the soil in smaller amounts, but if it is the majority then it won’t hold water or nutrients well. Clay helps hold water, but can harden like a rock if there is too much of it. You can do a simple test at home by filling a jar 1/2 to 2/3rds full of your soil, then fill it the rest of the way with water, shake the jar up really well, then set it on the counter and let it settle over the next few hours/ days.
Check to see where the layers of sedimentation are, there should be fairly distinct layers of sand, silt, and clay, or if you’ve been adding compost for years, it might be a lot of silt, a bit of clay, and organic matter. The ideal soil is going to have some amount of each. If it is all sand or all clay, then you need to help it. Even in the Bible times it talks about “dig about it, and dung it” when growing foods. To grow better, you need to Dung better! Meaning compost and aeration. So dig about your ground (better if you don’t use always use a rototiller… but I did the first 2 years in my new garden because the ground had so much clay it would harden and I couldn’t work it, last year we were able to turn it over and easily plant without rototilling, Yay! Add Lots of Dung (about ½ and ½ dirt to compost ratio and other amendments as needed) before you add your plants. In containers and raised beds, you can control the soil 100%. I also add garden wool to add some more fertilizer (14% Nitrogen) and water retention to the beds or ground. Other good things to add to your soil… ash, ground up eggshells, lawn clippings, wool, compost, worm castings! Things I Don’t recommend = straw… at least not if it has any grain in it… otherwise you’ll be growing wheat too.
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