#soil for gardening

[headspace-hotel]

I don't think it really hits for most people how much topsoil is an incredibly depleted resource that is virtually nonrenewable under current land management practices.

Topsoil you buy at a garden center most likely is not real topsoil, but rather simply compost mixed with sand. Many people have never touched topsoil. In vast swathes of inhabited land, topsoil simply does not exist anymore.

On the lawn care subreddit, people will occasionally be alarmed that their soil feels "mushy" and "soft" after the addition of lots of organic matter, or post something greatly alarmed about the area of "soft" soil in their yard.

These people would shit their pants in awe if they felt the soil in a forest. Their frame of reference for "soil" is so completely, sadly spoiled by compacted, concrete-like lawn dirt. This is a big reason I'm "anti-lawn." Lawns consistently have some of the worst, most devastated soil imaginable.

Topsoil is a LIVING community of microbes, plant roots, decaying organic matter, and perhaps most importantly of all, fungal mycelium. You cannot buy it. You cannot synthesize it. No amount of fertilizer will turn compacted lawn dirt into topsoil. It takes a hundred years to build one inch of topsoil.

In the USA, prairie soil was plowed up to make fields, and we all learned about the Dust Bowl in school, but we don't talk enough about the fact that plowing up the prairies engulfed half the country in devastating dirt storms that turned the sky black and had people choking and coughing up dirt all the time and sweeping deep drifts of dirt out of their houses. Like that happened. Damn.

What we did was something utterly devastating, the near total destruction of hundreds and hundreds of years' worth of an irreplaceable natural resource. And it's happened all over the country. We will never comprehend how much we lost when we lost the topsoil.

[divine-nonchalance]

Making Desert Land Fertile with Water Bunds

[records-of-dirt]

Create Your Own Soil Profile!

A garden’s soil is the base of all its growth, and knowing how to properly  interact with your soil can make all the difference!

Step 1 Site Observations

Take a few photos of your site (project area)

Note down:

what vegetation is there?

is it near water?

the slope

approximate exposure to sun

Step 2 Take a soil profile

Set out a tarp or a garbage bag

Dig a hole about 3 feet deep (you may want a friend’s help!)

Place that soil in piles onto the tarp, sorted into different soil layers

Remember horizons! (O, A, E, B, C, R(bedrock))

Make a sketch of a soil profile, and measure the depth of each horizon

The top of the profile should start with 0 cm

Refill the hole, and try to return each type of soil in order!

Step 3 Build your profile

Describe each layer of soil, moisture/structure/color/smell

Use the “feel” method to take notes

Step 4 Drainage

Dig a hole 1 foot deep and 1 foot wide(ish)

Fill the hole with water and measure how long it takes to fully drain

An ideal time is around 10 to 30 minutes!

Note down the time

Keep in mind that even if the soil type would suit desert-like plants more, think of the weather. If it rains a good deal the drainage can matter less(or more!)

Step 5 Biological Activity

Bury a pair of cotton underwear(I know it’s silly)

Wait about 60 days

Unearth the undies, the more tattered they are the more activity there is!

Step 6 pH Testing

OSU Lab for Oregon, and many states have soil testing labs

Soil pH Meter

DIY Test

Step 7 Hardiness Zone

This just takes looking at a map!

Hardiness zones can tell you about the weather’s highs & lows in a particular area

USDA Plant Hardiness Map

And that 's it! It's a lot, and you don’t have to do everything. Each step can provide a better view of how to properly support your garden, and can be fun activities to do with friends and family!

I’ve included a template for a complete soil profile, but feel free to make them as fancy as y’all want!

Sincerely,

records of dirt

[los-plantalones]

Stellaria media, or chickweed, is often considered a nuisance or just something to throw to the chickens when found outside of its native habitat (Eurasia).

WELL I’m here to tell you that you are missing out on this actually delicious plant. It’s one of my favorite spring greens to eat raw. I pile it on top of sandwiches and use it in salads. It tastes like oak leaf lettuce with a dash of sweetness similar to corn.

Think about this FREE salad ingredient next time you’re looking at a $3 bag of wilty spring mix

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 9 April 2024

In this sheltered garden it was great to see that Anemone coronaria De Caen Group (garden anemone) had naturalised in the lawn. These tuberous perennials need a moist but well-drained soil, in partial shade or sun.

Jill Raggett

[petula-xx]

International Compost Awareness week starts today!

Running from May 7-13 2023.  https://www.compostfoundation.org/ICAW/ICAW-Home

Hooray for compost!!!!!!

[amygdalae]

Having a gardening sweaty and dewy in the hot sun heavy shovel white tank top and ripped jorts moment

[sometimesanalice]

Where is my shirtless, sweaty, and flushed Bradley Bradshaw?

I need him to tend to my garden boxes.

[chimaerakitten]

Around Halloween I saw this post that was like “most canned pumpkin is actually squash so you’ve probably never had a pumpkin pie with real pumpkin” and few posts have ever produced more smug arrogance in me. Get a load of this guy, they haven’t ever accidentally grown a bumper crop of 50 pumpkins in their front yard during a global pandemic and been obligated to eat them in every dessert for a year. Skill issue.

[sybilius]

Was looking through old pictures and this was what my garden was a little over a year ago when we moved in:

This was it at the peak of the season, just under a year later:

[xofemeraldstars]

LOOK AT MY BABIES AS 🥺🌱🥰

I can't believe how well they did with the current heat wave and I only water them once in the morning, if I had them in trays they would have cooked IN THE SHADE!! very happy with how soil blocking is working so far even with the low lettuce germination 😅😅

[cheezyhamster]

Delinquent Basil

Made 4 versions (with/without cel shading and with/without the bg) (rest under cut)

I think I'm finally getting a grip on phone drawing (computer is still my go-to though)

[razpberrypie]

[tenth-sentence]

We'll look later at what has ensued over the last 100 years in particular, but suffice to say, what a keen gardener knows now, they also knew in the late 1800s – that compost is king, complexity seems to create resilience, and that a well-grown vegetable tastes of the soil in which it was grown.

"Soil: The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy" - Matthew Evans

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Monday 2 September 2024

The clump forming herbaceous perennial Kirengeshoma palmata (yellow wax bells) needs a humus-rich, lime-free soil in semi-shade with shelter from the wind. It associates well in a woodland border planted amongst ferns and hostas.

Jill Raggett

[anipgarden]

Off topic but to anyone who’s struggled to grow Lavender. Oh my god.

I love lavender! I’ve tried growing it basically every year since I started gardening! I love the color, the smell, and how much pollinators like it. But every year, it would die the instant I tried to repot it. The issue is, it doesn't like to have 'wet feet' (basically stay in wet soil for long), but as a Floridian... yeah. I tried in-ground, I tried potting soil, I tried mixing potting soil with sand. No dice.

This year a cashier at a gardening store suggested I try fucking SUCCULENT SOIL.

And its doing WONDERS.

Gaze upon my lavender plants in AWE! They aren’t dying, they aren’t wimpy and weak, they are THRIVING in their environment! All because of succulent soil!!!

Granted, we'll have to wait until the summer stormy season starts to see how they do with tons of rainfall, but as it stands so far? I wish I knew this sooner, so I'm telling you now!!!