Archive for Creating Healthy And Balanced Soil
It’s A Season Of Marigolds. Marigold’s Secret Mission
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Marigolds truly live up to their name – a sea of molten gold flowers that have many more uses besides being beautiful in your garden. They are made for summer.
To meet the demands of their native lands–chiefly Mexico and Central America–members of the marigold family had to flourish in hot sun as well as tolerate poor soils and infrequent rain.These qualities make them one of the most foolproof summer annuals, whether you plant them in the ground or in a container.
Their leaves have another bonus: Like other plants whose foliage contains volatile oils, such as lavender and rosemary, marigolds seem to repel many harmful insects while attracting beneficial ones. Recent research indicates that marigolds contain compounds toxic to root knot and other plant-parasitic nematodes (microscopic round worms that damage plant roots).
If nematodes are bugging your crops, you won’t see them, but you’re sure to see the damage they cause: stunted, yellow, and/ or wilted plants, often with distinctly knotted and possibly rotting roots.
There’s no safe chemical cure for these microscopic, soil-dwelling worms except French marigolds.Plant them in rows or blocks between your crops (you have to plant a lot of them to get the benefit), and you’ll enjoy their flowers all season long. Marigolds suppress nematodes only when they are planted thickly and allowed to grow for many weeks. Read More→
Clovers For Fertility: Maintaining Garden Soil Organically
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If your garden soil is poor, consider giving it some help. One way to amend garden soils organically is to plant a green manure cover crop. It requires minimum effort.
For 4,000 years prior to the factory-made fertilizers, the Chinese used every bit of organic matter they could lay their hands on to return to the soil the nitrogen and other nutrients their vegetable crops removed.
Americans have never been quite so industrious. Unlike the Chinese, our culture treats the organic matter we should be putting back into the soil as waste material, shipping it off to landfills or flushing it down the toilet.
Even small gardens will benefit from the use of cover crops, or “green manures”. Tilling, weeding, harvesting and foot traffic of most home gardens tends to destroy soil structure.
Planting cover crop is an easy way to revitalize the soil, and help soil tilth and subsequent plant growth.
Cover crops are planted in vacant space and worked into the soil after they grow instead of being eaten. They provide a number of advantages to the otherwise wasteful use of space during your garden’s off-season.
Cover crops help to retain the soil, lessen erosion, and decrease the impact of precipitation on the garden by slowing the runoff of water. And, Read More→
It’s Your Move About The Red Clover
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Red Clover is a very common plant with bright pink blossoms and is renowned for its fertility-enhancing properties. A delicate blossom on a hardy, nourishing plant could be the natural fertility booster that you are looking for.
It is known as a hardy plant that enriches the fertility of the soil its planted in. Natural wisdom has proven that it gives a tonic and enhancing effect to human fertility as well.
Common in fields and along roadsides, it has bright pink blossoms from mid-summer into the chilly days of fall. What can red clover tell about your landscape?
The reason for its presence is not to annoy or even mock you. Instead, it is merely assessing the quality of your garden soil. Typically, the presence of clover in your lawn indicates a low level of nitrogen in the soil.
Nitrogen in your soil will affect the part of the plant that is above ground, especially the green, leafy sections. Correct levels of Nitrogen will promote healthy green foliage.
Therefore, you will find that vegetables such as lettuce and spinach, as well as lawns, have high Nitrogen requirements.
Nitrogen is one of the most difficult nutrients to maintain in your garden as it is easily washed away by rain water. The Nitrogen level in your soil can, therefore, deplete quickly. And, Read More→
Vegetable Garden Planting Secrets
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Vegetable garden planting involves more than putting seeds in the ground. Preparing the planting bed, selecting seeds, and deciding when to plant come first.
Will you sow seeds—and then thin them—or will you try transplants? This decision, among others, is up to the gardener.
Preparing the planting bed
Before planting any vegetables, prepare the soil. This includes cultivating properly, adding organic matter, and maintaining soil fertility.
Remove sticks, stones, and other trash. Also remove plant debris that may harbor insects and diseases. Pest-free plant debris can be tilled into the soil.
When breaking ground in the spring, do not spade or till when the soil is wet. If worked when too moist, heavy soils become hard, compacted, and will limit growth for the entire season. And, Read More→
The Garden Saver: Good Bye To Moles?
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If you have moles in your garden don’t panic, they aren’t going to kill your lawn or anything like that.
While this looks bad, are moles really harmful to your lawn? The answer is absolutely not. The fact is that their co called “damage” is purely cosmetic and temporary.
In the long run their digging is actually quite beneficial to your lawn. As they dig, they are actually aerating your grass, allowing air and water into the soil.
They are also ridding your lawn of harmful pests like grubs. Since for the most part they are strict insectivores, they do not disturb your grass’ roots.
Mostly, they eat insects, and among their favorite foods are fat, juicy grubs. Those grubs are so fat because they are dining on the roots of your plants, mostly lawn grass. And, Read More→
