Soil Articles
As an organic gardener, you know that the soil is the most important factor in creating a successful garden. Rich healthy soil means healthy, beautiful blooms and juicy vegetables.
Compost
Compost is made from decayed organic materials such as straw, grass clippings, newspaper, leaves, certain food wastes, spent plants, hay, chipped trees/brush, and farm manures. You can easily make your own compost using a bin, tumbler ...
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After moving into a new home in a new or established neighborhood, many gardeners are disappointed to discover their flowering plants struggling for survival due to poor soil. The soil may be full of clay or stones, too acidic, compacted, or lacking in organic matter. Some home-owners may resort to simply adding fertilizer. Don't do this!
With a little knowledge and a bit of determination you can use soil amendments ...
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Nature was the first organic gardener, slowly scraping up a thin blanket of rock particles over much of the barren planet, then feeding it with the bodies of tiny, spore-bearing plants and gradually cloaking it in green.
By the mid to late 19th century, chemists decided that they could help gardeners and farmers with new inorganic fertilizers and alike manna from heaven. This seemed to be the answer to the ...
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 I received a question the other day about soil being
 acid or alkaline, as it relates to flowers.
Cultivated flowers fall into two groups based upon
soil preferance. One group will grow only in acid
soil with a pH below 6.5, while the others prefer
or will tolerate only alkaline soil, pH 6.5 or above.
Acid lovers are plants that thrive on raw humus,
such as their ancestors found in the woods, where
leaves drop from the taller trees.
Leaves, leafmold, peat moss, or other humus should
be incorporated in soil where they are to be planted.
Especially recommended are oak leaves, which produce
an acid humus.
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 Double digging, also called "trenching": remove a spade's depth of soil
 over all the area you want to improve and put it aside.
 Dig organic materials into the next spade's depth. Mix the same
 organic materials into the soil you initially removed and put that
 mixture on top of the deeper mixture.
 What you accomplish is aeration of your soil to a depth of approx.
 18 inches with the inclusion of organic matter, as well.
Deep root penetration is easier, so that deep-rooted plants will
reward you with better growth.
Admittedly this involves a lot of back- straining labor, however the
value of this method for deeply-rooted perennial plants that grow
in one place for several years, and for shrubs that are deep-rooted
will be ongoing.
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Organic matter is another material in the soil that has several important
roles.
ORGANIC MATTER:
1. acts like glue to hold the mineral particles together.
2. Is a food source for the minute( or micro) organisms that live in the soil.
3. Is a source of nutrients for the plants.
4. Strongly influences what color the soil will be.
Organic Matter and the ...
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