Ask the Gardener-April 19th

We have decided that there are so many great gardening questions, that we can’t possibly answer them all in our monthly newsletter.  So we are going to introduce this feature column that will be published every Monday.  We would like to invite you to submit your questions to us by either leaving a comment on the Ask the Gardener post each week or by e-mailing us your questions.  We will do our best to answer all of your questions either in this column or in our monthly newsletter.  So don’t be shy!  Ask away!

Today we are going to answer one of the great questions we have received via e-mail from one of our newsletter subscribers.

How can I get my lifeless clay dirt to grow healthy vegetables?

This is a great question!  And it brings up an important part of gardening:  soil.  In order for plants to grow, they need to be able to establish a healthy root system.  In order to do this, the soil needs to be loose and enriched with nutrients.  The problem with clay soils (and we deal with this too), is that they tend to be heavy and lack essential nutrients that the plants need.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the best scenario for healthy plant growth.  So what does one do when they are faced with soil such as this?

The first thing that you need to do is to add organic material to the clay soil.  When you have done that, add some more.  We like to use humates, or humic acid, which are in essence dinosaur poop.  You can find this at your local garden center.  We also use leaves, compost and grass clippings.   You can add the grass clippings from your lawn, as long as you haven’t treated the lawn with weed killer.  When you add lawn clippings that have been treated with weed killer, you are just asking for trouble as most weed killers will also damage the plants in your garden.  Not exactly what you are trying to do when you are growing a garden.

Work the organic material into the clay soil until it is loose and light.  This will enable your vegetables to establish a great root system and to breathe.  Yes, I said breathe.  We are taught in school that plants provide oxygen into the air for us to breathe.  What isn’t taught, is that plants use just as much oxygen as they generate.  The roots of the plants need oxygen to survive.  When they are planted too tightly in soil, it makes it difficult for the plant to breathe and it will eventually die without the oxygen that it needs to flourish.

You will want to add organic material every year.  This will help you to improve your soil and maximize your potential for a successful garden year after year.

So what is your gardening question?  Leave a comment below with your question or you can e-mail us at info@successfulgardens.com