Home Garden Companion

Ilona's Garden Journal




clay soil

Things Your Garden Will Thank You For

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Garden Soil Amendments

It is the season of gratefulness. We have gathered in our harvests and are putting away the garden for winter’s long sleep.

We are thankful.

But what about the garden? What will replenish its fertility and wellbeing for the next growing season?

Now is a good time to add garden soil amendments to the ground. It will thank you in productive fruitfulness in years to come.

What’s Good For Your Garden?

  1. Diatomaceous earth is an organic “bug killer”; in the garden it can help control nemotodes which stunt plant growth. It can be used indoors, too.
  2. Leaves. Yes, good old fashioned tree leaves decay into rich “leaf mold” which is a wonderful soil conditioner. Save your leaves in plastic bags or compost them to add to your garden soil.
  3. Compost. Since we are talking about compost, it might be a good time to get a Tumbler Composter to save all the winter’s vegetable scraps for humus making, enriching compost. On my list is some Organic Compost Starter to activate my pile for faster results.
  4. Earthworm castings. You could start your own earthworm farm, or buy the bagged castings (which is what I do). Earthworm castings will build soil and add nutrients. This is the best seller on Amazon
  5. Sowing green manures. Sowing a green manure crop will accomplish a number of good things for your soil. Some crops to use: Cereal rye; Agricultural mustard; Alfalfa; Banner fava beans; Alsike clover.

Everything that you do now to prepare for the next growing season is something that you don’t have to do later (when spring crowds your schedule and taxes your strength with its many demands). Many of these suggestions tie in with chores you will be doing, anyway.

Raking leaves? Save them, don’t add to the landfills. Bags stored in an out of the way place, to be added to the garden once they are decomposed.

Clearing the vegetable plot? Sow the crop cover for green manure turned in during spring prep.

Need to get rid of peelings, etc. during winter? Be ready with your composter near the kitchen door.

Look For Discounts

You may not always find them, but late fall is a good time to look for bone meal, blood meal, and fertilizers at a discount.

Even if they aren’t on sale, you may want them ready for use ( checking one more thing off the busy growing season’s to-do list .

Made Compost This Summer?

After clearing the old debris from the surface, add your made, or half-made compost into the earth. Loosely fork it in.

Add a small amount ( handfulls) of  organic fertilizer to the garden, as well. It will help further decompose the leaves or compost you have added.

Animal manures ( chicken, horse, cow… not from pets) are good to spread across the soil to age over the winter months.

Reminder

  Don’t work clay soils when wet

Have Acidic pH?

Fall is a good time to sprinkle in lime, or adding clean wood ashes.

Or maybe the pH is high? Acidify with pine needles, or sulfur.

Not sure? Take a sample to the county extension office or use a home soil tester.

Frost Action

Out here in the North, where our cold climate gives plenty of winter frost action, the farmers used to turn up the earth in big clods to better take advantage of the way frost will condition the soil and help expose insect eggs to the elements.

I say “used to” because so many farmers here have been convinced to use ” no-till” methods which depend on chemical control for killing insects, weeds, and to keep soils from blowing away.

The old organic method, perhaps with a cover of rye or alfalfa might be the best method for your garden. Experiment!

 

5 Tips to Improve Clay Soil

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This page has moved. It can be found @ Ilona’s Garden: 5 Tips To Improve Clay Soil, along with other informative posts on soil improvement.

But if you want only one really important tip for working with clay soil, it is this:

Don’t work (dig, hoe, rake, step on, etc) clay soils when they are saturated with moisture (WET)!

You can find out ways to improve a clay soil by following the link… but basically not working these soils when they are wet is single most important thing you can remember.

However, do go to the article mentioned to get really helpful hints if you have this soil condition in your garden.

Do You Dig Your Soil?

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That is “sixties-speak” for whether or not you like the soil handed to you in your garden… do you bloom where you are planted?

Here in Central Ohio I have gardened on clay types of soils. Presently my garden soil is composed of a dark clay loam called Kokomo.

With the way the weather has been here lately, though, there is not much gardening goin’ on.

The reason is that with blizzards and snow melt, along with the rains, we have very wet conditions. Clay soil is awful to work in wet conditions. In fact, you shouldn’t try it just because you will ruin the tilth of the soil for the season. Wet clay clumps together and dries into hard clods. Very ugly, believe me.

So even if your fingers are itching to garden, and the weather gives you some warm, sunny days, don’t dig into your clay soil.

If a handful clumps together into a tight ball, wait until it is more crumbly in texture to start to work in your soil.

There are always many other chores to accomplish in the garden- clearing away weeds or debris, doing some judicious pruning (don’t prune off your spring bloom, however!), pampering your indoor started seedlings, organizing your tool shed… all sorts of jobs to get ready for the coming growing season.

The soils will warm and dry and you will soon be inundated with the joyful occupation of planting your 2008 garden.

Tags: soil, clay

ReFreeze

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Re-froze, so I guess that is it for the thaw! In my garden there is often a mid-winter time with decently warm temperatures and dry enough earth to do some early tilling. I get the feeling that this won’t materialize this year. When it does, it is absolutely the best time to get the vegetable garden ready for spring planting.

With any large proportion of clay in the soil, one dares not work it wet. Great Garden Taboo. It means the soil will have damaged tilth for the remainder of the season. On the other hand, when everything is as saturated as this year, it will be difficult to do anything for spring. One year, I remember the farmers around here had to wait way into almost June for planting; it was not a good year for them. It all depends how much rain we get during the midspring.

Right now we have our own ice rinks around the house. I have been inside working on computer things and tweaking the site a bit. Feeding the wood stove and trying to keep warm. The birds, yesterday, as temperatures plummeted were taking refuge in the pyracantha and on the porch vine. All ruffled feathery fellowship!