Soil amendmending
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu, t*@xtra.co.nz
- Subject: Soil amendmending
- From: J* S*
- Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 09:39:13 -0700 (PDT)
Moira:
I was brought up Roman Catholic in a very guilt-ridden
Italian family, so I have never been accused of being
"Calvinistic". Nor chauvinistic. I was, however,
once accused of being "Machiavelian"; I'm not sure the
accuser knew what that meant.
With that aside, I get to qualify my suggestions.
Research at the Universities of Georgia and Oklahoma
suggest that, even in the worst soils, the existing
soil be removed at a volume twice that of what is to
be planted, the soil then "broken up" and stones/rocks
removed. The broken, cleaned soil is then put back
into the hole to fill in around the newly-set plant.
Without amendment. This is enough to give the plants
the "good start" they need to fend for themselves in
later life.
To be fair (in other words, "CYA"), I am positive
there are instances where the soil might as well be
replaced. But not because it is "cruddy" or
"compacted". But because it is tainted with
construction waste. Or worse.
Yep -- I now live on forgiving sand. I've lived on
other kinds of sand elsewhere. But I've also lived
and gardened on some of the heaviest, stoniest,
densest crap someone else might have called soil.
Anyone else in Southern California want to attest to
that? I had success with the right plants on those
soils, too.
I'll take the sand any day. But the principle still
stands.
May I also add that there is a place for well-amended
and fertilized and watered and pampered soil. Many of
us have vegetable beds or annual borders or other,
"high intensity" garden spots. I certainly wouldn't
suggest that any gardener try to grow celery on
compacted soil or portulaca on dense clay. These
kinds of plants are not "appropriate" (to our climates
and soils) but they are part of a "cultivation
society".
So, let's not all go back to living in caves. Is that
what "Calvinistic" means?
Joe Seals,
(watching my Dieramas struggle on my sand in Santa
Maria, California)
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