Garden

[gardenman]

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@tototwo wrote:

@gardenman- I have to agree with you on the compacted soil thing.  I remember that Paul James (one of my garden heroes) used to say that once you plant a garden, you should never, ever walk on it.  Huh?  Then how do you pull weeds?  Deadhead?  Spread mulch?  I walk (or sit) all over my gardens and they are just fine and dandy.  

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A lot of the "don't compact the soil guys" use planks on the soil to spread out their weight, but that always seems a bit awkward to me. But hey, whatever works for you. I always just find it funny that many of the people who insist you should never compact the soil then insist that you have to firmly heel in trees and shrubs and force all of the air out of the soil. Either a light, fluffy, well-aerated soil is good or it isn't. They seem to want it both ways. It's one of those ongoing contradictions in gardening that always bugs me.

Paul James was very good. There used to be tons of good gardening shows. I started watching "The Victory Garden" with Jim Crockett from the very first episode and loved it. That was back around 1978. Long before HGTV was even around. One of the religious stations used to have a gardening show that came from Georgia that was pretty interesting. I can't remember the name of the host for the life of me, but in one episode he had on a snake expert after seeing a rattlesnake near his garden for the first time. The expert assured him he had nothing to fear and that the snakes weren't new there, but he'd just not seen them before. The expert then wandered through his garden and knowing where to look found something like ten rattlesnakes in just a couple of minutes, which really freaked out the host. Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman had a pretty good series of gardening shows. HGTV had Kathy Renwald, Paul James, Rebecca Kolls, and Erica Glasener. The Kathy Renwald and Erica Glasener shows were favorites of mine.

About all that's left these days is Monty Don's "Gardener's World" on Britbox. It's very good. I think garden programming should be back on TV here also, but the programmers disagree. Doing a national gardening show is challenging as gardening in Florida is different from gardening in Maine. Just a move of twenty miles in some parts of the country can alter what you can grow. Pests that ravage gardens in one part of the country are unknown in other parts. 

One of the things I loved about Erica Glasener's and Kathy Renwald's shows was that they traveled all over the country and Canada to show how different gardeners dealt with the local issues they experienced. 

[GingerPeach]

Here's what Michigan State University extension says about compacted soil.  Most university extension programs will likely say the exact same thing.

Factors contributing to compacted soil

Over-tilling soil. Over-tilling breaks up the small soil aggregates into single particles. The soil should have little clumps of particles that are bound together in small, pea-sized lumps. When tilling an area multiple times, those little aggregates are broken down. When the soil later gets wet, it does not allow the water to pass through. A mini-pond is created and when the soil finally dries, it resembles an alligator’s skin. This linear pattern of cracked soil does not let air or water in.

Working up soil when it is too wet. Before tilling a garden or working up the soil, make sure the soil is not too wet. Before working in the garden in the spring, take a handful of soil and compress it into a ball. When gently poked, it should fall apart. If it does not, the soil is too wet. Wait until the soil crumbles.

Mixing sand into clay soils to loosen soil. Adding sand creates the opposite of the desired effect. The soil can become like concrete. Add organic matter such as compost, peat moss or leaf mold when loosening the soil.

Compressing soil because of weight. Vehicles parked or driven over an area, construction activities and even places with a great deal of foot traffic can become compacted. It could be a riding mower’s tires running over an area repeatedly.

Not walking or working in your garden unless it's on the dry side will help prevent compaction. As to heeling in a plant, that has nothing to do with compaction.  It is simply covering a plant's roots temporarily with soil before setting in permanently.  

[PA Mom-mom]

@GingerPeach  and @gardenman  My neighbor is a PA transplant from NJ and old school Italian. He does everything I was taught not to do - including tilling when it is too wet and augmenting with sand. Even with my lifelong experience with gardening, he usually beats me in yield. It drives me crazy! Also, @gardenman , I would tend to agree with you about green and black flowers, except for hellebore. I think they are so otherworldly! When I see them in March in PA, they are truly miraculous!

[GingerPeach]

Just a guess on my part, @PA Mom-mom , but if your neighbor isn't one to care about the health of the soil, then even beating you in yield may be just because he uses some sort of high nitrogen fertilizer.  

There's a greater benefit to having a healthy soil than forcing it to produce artificially high yields. 

[PA Mom-mom]

@GingerPeach  I meant to reply that he augments with sand; and no, he doesn't use anything nuclear in his soil. Purely natural as far as I know. 

[GingerPeach]

I was just guessing, @PA Mom-mom 

There is so much unsaid (here, and everywhere) no judgment can really be made.

Too bad it's frustrating when he seems to go against better practices!

Best wishes for this year's garden, @PA Mom-mom 

[PA Mom-mom]

@GingerPeach  Thanks! I've had to move my garden to the patio, because we are getting ready to sell and move to be near our grandchildren. I'm glad those competitive instincts of mine are not plaguing me anymore. Not much anyway! Hahaha!

[Nonametoday]

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@gardenman wrote:

There are some things in the gardening world that I just don't get. One of those is the desire to breed green colored flowers like the Envy Zinnia. I'm sure it's quite the breeding breakthrough, but why a green flower atop a green plant? "I like flowers I just don't want anyone to know I do, so I'll camouflage it!" Is that the answer? Maybe they're targeting that Saint Patrick's day crowd? I don't really get the desire to breed black flowers either. They do stand out though, just not in a good way to me. I guess if you want somber flowers for a funeral they'd do.

We're always told not to compact our soil. You must keep the soil light and aerated. Plant roots need oxygen to survive. Don't ever compact your soil. Then when you plant a tree or shrub you're instructed to heel it in and really press the soil tight against the rootball eliminating all air pockets. Uh, what? What happened to never compact the soil? (For the record, I don't heel in my shrubs and they do just fine.)

I'm sure others have their own personal pet peeves, but those are a few of mine. Feel free to share your own.

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@gardenman   Compacting the soil is totally different from keeping a plant packed in so the water when it hits it will distribute evenly and there will be no pockets of air.  Once the plant is mature, you do not want compacted soil and you are not compacting when you put the plant in and pack the soil ---- that is totally different from compacted soil.  Compacted soil is soil that is like clay and has no loam.  Heeling in your plants prevents issues but if you have had no problem with them. If you water shortly after planting, the soil distributes in a manner it is supposed to but keep doing what you do your way.  Nobody cares as long as it works for you.

[Nonametoday]

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@tototwo wrote:

@gardenman- I have to agree with you on the compacted soil thing.  I remember that Paul James (one of my garden heroes) used to say that once you plant a garden, you should never, ever walk on it.  Huh?  Then how do you pull weeds?  Deadhead?  Spread mulch?  I walk (or sit) all over my gardens and they are just fine and dandy.  

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@tototwo   You don't have to walk on a plant to weed  your garden.  You can get close to the plant but don't step on it.  You can also get a hoe if you dont' want to disturb the plant until it is mature.

[tototwo]

Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, @gardenman.  I watched every garden show on HGTV and taped them for future viewing too.  Saturday mornings and afternoon used to be nothing but Kathy, Erica, and my favorite, Gary Allen (all those big curves - my gardens are all like that).  Once I sent an email to Erica and she wrote me back with a few questions.  I answered her and we ended up emailing back and forth for several months.   There's still one garden show on our PBS station, but it's not worth watching.    I certainly miss the ideas and inspiration of all those beautiful old garden shows. 

I never tried the garden plank thing because I honestly prefer to sit down on the ground and crawl in and out of the flowers.  I'm a "get your hands dirty" girl, a la Rebecca Kolls.