Re: thanks for ideas for sun-blasted parking strip et al.
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: thanks for ideas for sun-blasted parking strip et al.
- From: d* f*
- Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 10:07:25 -0700 (PDT)
I'd tend to agree with Moira over Joe, that some soil
preparation would at least make it easier to plant in
this strip, if not significantly help the plant. I
have found in my own experience with miserable to work
compacted clay soils, that timing and soil moisture
content are critical to making it easier to both plant
and get things established. Neither too wet or too
dry, but that fleeting condition in between makes it
much easier to plant, and no doubt gets plants better
established as well. This may be a case for adding
organic amendment as a mulch, and letting earthworms
and nature do the amending over time. However, it
takes significant amounts of soil amendment to really
change the texture, and even several inches of
sand/compost will just be the proverbial drop in the
bucket. Reapplications of surface organic amendment
annually would also be necessary to have any
significant effect. This is probably more important
depending on the "toughness" of the original
plantings, or whether follow up
planting/divisions/relocating is being considered.
Regarding the possibility of only once a month
irrigation in a pure river sand soil in coastal
California, Joe's conditions do seem to hint at some
source of subsurface water available to these
plantings. When I gardened next to Golden Gate Park
in San Francisco for almost 8 years, in pure dune
sand, once a month irrigation was insufficient to keep
things looking decent, and anything that could go a
week in clay soils without water, needed watering
every other day in this sand. Larger trees and shrubs
such as Pinus radiata, Eucalyptus globulus,
Chaenomeles japonica, Coprosma repens, etc., once
established, seemed to do just fine without
irrigation. The one thing I do miss about sandy soils
is that moving things was sooo easy! (But the daily
watering I don't miss, nor all that summer fog and
wind. It made it pretty miserable to come home after
work and go out into the evening fog and wind to have
to water, needing a jacket, when one knew it was warm
and sunny just a few miles further away.
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