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Re: types of soil

There was a recent discussion on this forum about an article on 
improving soils which used the term "boggy soil" as part of a list which 
included sandy and clay soils.

I believe such a term actually describes a soil which because of its 
site location results in prolonged periods of standing water that 
provides an environment for various plants that prefer semi aquatic 
growing conditions.

The subsoil that poses a drainage problem can be covered by a sandy or 
loam topsoil. The absence or present of drainage problems can be 
disguised by the amount and frequency of rainfall or irrigation.

The term "vernal pool" refers to an ecosystem that lasts only a few 
weeks after our rainy season in San Diego. Plants and animals have 
adapted to such conditions and complete their entire life cycle in this 
highly seasonal and very specialized environment.

Generally a poorly drained soil falls into a pre vernal pool condition 
where raising the level of the plant bed is a viable possibility 
providing that supplemental irrigation is controlled or the non planted 
areas will be perpetually water logged.

Are horticultural writers, we should educate our readers to 
understanding the underlying root causes of standing water so that 
effective, long term solutions can be developed and implemented by readers.

Diversion of water runoff is usually the cheapest and most immediate 
remedy, but  may not be possible because the diversion cause the water 
to produce problems to downstream property owners.

Installation of underground drainage collector pipes that can carry the 
excess water away via gravity or by a sump pump to be disposed of via an 
acceptable legal method such as a storm drainage system.

Importing soil or adding amendments to fill in the depressed, wet area 
just hides the underground problem. Raising the soil level to provide 
several feet of unsaturated soil to grow plants without installing an 
underground drainage system represent bad horticultural and economic 
advice. The time to correct the problem is prior to spend money, time, 
and energy in landscaping the site.

Why not provide advice that builds on the sites disadvantage? I refer to 
the many possibilities that are related to creating a pond and planting 
the many plant species that thrive in an aquatic and semi aquatic 
environment.

It seems that there is a trend towards print media producing "sound 
bite" articles that don't contain enough information to be really useful 
and, may in fact, be designed to misinform the reader/viewer in order to 
promote/sell an idea or product.

The paid "infocommercials" are effective and cheap to produce, that is 
why they are thriving on TV and cable networks. Paid "infoarticles" must 
be labeled as ads because of their stealth nature to mislead the reader 
into think the views are objective and unbiased.

I hope we don't see the  "spin doctors" don't migrate from the political 
arena to horticultural writing on TV, cable, newspapers, and magazines. 
I assume that books will be safe until someone starts to include 
advertising in books as a means of increasing the publisher's bottom line.

Claude Sweet
San Diego, CA

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