Gardeners are cajoled into using chemical fertilizers made specifically to work over a short time, requiring us to buy and use more. Chemical fertilizers are addictive to plants, giving them a short "fix". They will play dead when they need another fix. Fertilize again and, miracle of miracles, they seem to thrive. It becomes a vicious cycle.
Stop the cycle. Release plants from chemical dependencies. How? Use compost. Compost will keep the soil healthy without chemical fertilizers. Beneficial insects will arrive to keep pests in check, and the strong healthy plants will crowd out weeds.
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| Rosie guards the compost bin from critters so she can have the choicest morsels for herself. |
It all starts with the soil. There are three basic soil types: clay, sand and loam.
Clay: Clay soil will have a reddish tinge, and will hold
tightly together when squeezing a damp handful. Clay is nutrient rich, but the
plants have a hard time taking up these nutrients.
Sand: Almost the opposite of clay. Sandy soil will be on the
tan side, and will not hold together well when squeezing a damp handful. It
will feel gritty. Sand does not hold water well, and any nutrients it may have
tend to wash away easily.
Loam: Looks and feels like what Martha Stewart calls “rich, crumbly, chocolate cake”. It holds together just right when squeezing a damp handful, and breaks apart easily, but not too easily. Loam is what we strive to achieve when improving, or amending, garden soil.
The best way to improve the texture of any soil type while adding nutrients is to amend it with compost. Compost (organic matter) is the best way to get that coveted chocolate cake soil.
Compost is derived from the word composite, meaning “put together”. It is defined as “a mixture of decomposing vegetation for fertilizing soil”. Partially decomposed vegetation is coarse and lumpy. Fully decomposed compost that is ready to feed the garden feels very much like loamy soil. The more decomposed the vegetation is, the better an amendment it will be.
Organic matter comes in bags labeled “compost” or “humus” at local nurseries or home centers. Buying bagged organic matter (or having it delivered in bulk) is a good choice to give if there is no room for a compost bin.
To create a compost bin, find a four-foot square area in the yard, and use a large cylinder of chicken wire with a smaller cylinder in the middle as a chimney. Or recycle pallets to form walls for a compost bin. Use full pallets on three sides, half a pallet for the front for easy filling, and a small chicken wire chimney in the middle. Commercial compost barrels make compost quickly. They are user-friendly and great for small yards or people with limited mobility.
Fill the compost bin with grass clippings, fallen leaves,
weeds, and kitchen scraps (no meat, please). Try to alternate between brown matter, which is carbon
rich, and green matter, which is nitrogen rich. Here's a basic guide to what is
brown and what is green in the compost pile.
Green: Any part of any fruit or vegetable, grass
clippings, coffee or tea grounds, houseplant trimmings, expired flower
arrangements.
Brown: Leaves, wood chips, sawdust, wood ashes, hay, straw, soil, peanut shells, eggshells.
Do not add: meat scraps, oily products such as salad
dressings, peanut butter and mayonnaise, pet litter and food, branches and
other large woody materials, or paper products.
More composting tips: Coarse materials should be chopped or
shredded. Build the pile in layers, alternating brown and green. Turn the pile
occasionally to aerate it by using a pitchfork to move the inside materials to
the outside, and the outside materials to the inside. Give tumblers an
occasional spin. The compost is ready when the pile shrinks to about half of
its original size.
Do the squeeze-the-damp-soil test again next year. Feed
planting beds with compost, and chances are the soil will become richer and
healthier each year.
