Re: New Plants for spring

Marilyn,
The amendments I use are all organic, from Countryside Natural Products, a
very fussy supplier.  The only other amendments have been Espoma
products--Flower Tone, Plant Tone, etc.  My soil is a very small patch of
sandy soil, so small it doesn't appear on the county soil maps.  I live and
garden on what used to be the barn lot of an old farm that included land up
and down this holler and on the Knobs above me (the mountain that rises
behind the stream and where my spring comes from).  (The barn and the
granary are on my land, both beautifully built structures, and this spring
begins my building project to transform the granary into a house.  The plans
are done, the builders selected and we're good to go)  The old farm house
next to the barn lot was an outsale in the 50's, and my neighbor there has
the same poor soil.  Because my gardens cover so much ground in this old
barn lot, and because they extend into to the woods, I feel it is very
unlikely that heavy metals or pesticides would have been spread through all
these areas.  It is indeed very strange, but I've come to the conclusion
that the soil was simply so deficient in organic material, phosphorous,
nitrogen and trace minerals that it just couldn't grow most plants. Since it
is sand, nutrients wash out very rapidly, so even the manure of the animals
that once wandered around would long since have washed out too.
    With everything I've added, it now grows most plants, though it will
never be rich soil and will never offer a grand show of roses and
delphiniums.  I can at last grow a very good vegetable garden, which has
been the recipient of my best compost.  Blueberries and strawberries do well
also.
    I did wonder in the beginning, when my gardens were much smaller if coal
ash could have been dumped in the area, but with more experience here that
seemed more and more unlikely.  For one thing, in this part of WV, people
use wood, not coal, and no one would have spread the ash throughout their
barn lot and into the woods.
So here I am with this strange soil that is gradually yielding to my
ministrations.  Perhaps this place has been my life challenge as a gardener.
But I sure do wish I could grow purple foliage Heucheras.  I'm going to give
H.'Velvet Night' one more chance this summer, and then I will sadly say
farewell.
Many thanks to all for your concern.
Merri Morgan
zone 5b, WV



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marilyn Dube" <mygarden@easystreet.com>
To: <perennials@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2004 5:24 PM
Subject: RE: New Plants for spring


> Merri,
> You certainly have had a lot to deal with!  Your comments below regarding
> strange wilts & blights, stunting and bitterness makes me wonder about the
> presence of either heavy metals or pesticides in the existing soil.  Since
> your original soil has been tested by an expert consultant, I assume none
of
> those harmful elements were in your soil.  But what about the amendments
you
> have been adding?  Are they all from the same source?  Perhaps there are
> toxic things in the amendments.  How about your neighbors?  Are they
having
> similar problems?  Have you talked to your county extension agent?  This
is
> all so strange!
>
> Marilyn Dube'
> Natural Designs Nursery
> Portland, Oregon
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > trace mineral supplement.  Strange wilts and blights killed
> > many plants--for
> > three years peas withered and died, tomatoes died from what I
> > think was
> > verticillium, root crops were stunted and bitter, a planting
> > of vinca minor
> > blighted and almost died.  Colchicums I planted one fall came up the
> > following spring with small leaves and then just dwindled away, never
> > blooming again.  Cimicifugas didn't bloom for four years
> > after I got them,
> > though they were in bloom when I purchased them.
>
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