It's the Soil, Stupid!

Filed under: Gardening, How-To, Experts

Composting is a philosophy as much as it is a practical garden application. Here, the scoop.

The title of this piece is inspired by the sign on the desk of well known public garden designer Lynden B. Miller, who understands that good gardens are planted in good soil.

If we are what we eat, it follows that our plants are what they eat, too. And what they eat comes from the ground in which they grow. If there is something wrong with your plants, the chances are good that the cause lies in the soil.

At the moment our consciousness is turning more and more to where our food crops come from and how they have been grown. We are thinking about herbicides, pesticides and polluted soil. Information has slowly percolated down to us that what's in the soil finds its way into our plants, and in turn, if we eat those plants, into our bodies. Although we can shop carefully and try to choose organic produce as often as possible, we cannot always control the circumstances in which our food is cultivated.

What we can control -- to a certain extent -- is the quality of the soil in our own gardens. Not only does the attention we pay to soil reward us with better plants, whether edible or ornamental, but it is a tool to teach our children -- in a practical manner -- that the circle of growing is one that directly affects us as humans. If we take care of our plants and understand what happens in the soil, we are more likely to insist that what others grow for us is looked after just as respectfully.

I grew up taking compost for granted. It was an integral part of our garden's life. My mom, the gardener, always had a huge pile of compost tucked away behind a wall near the vegetable garden. When it was ready, after steaming and breaking down its grass clippings, leaves and vegetable scraps for some months, it was trundled off around the garden to be dug into the top few inches of soil. I assumed that compost was essential and thought that it solved all problems.

And it can...


A common soil problem is compaction, when soil is too dense to allow air and water to move freely. No earthworms -- natural aerators -- are able to travel though compacted soil, either. Another problem is nutrient depletion, where plants have grown in the soil for a long time with no addition of organic matter to provide essential nutrients for their growth.

Then there is soil type: Every region of the country has its own soil type and peculiarities. One can become deeply technical on the subject, but speaking generally is easier as a starting-off point.

At one extreme we have sandy soil. It is lighter in color, does not retain water easily and is hard on plants which need more organic matter to feed them. At the other extreme, we have soil which is clay-based. Nice for playing in the mud, but frustrating for a gardener. Clay retains a great deal of moisture and drains poorly, creating an anaerobic condition for plants who want good drainage. Clay is dense and literally smothers roots that are not adapted to it. When it dries out in drought, it becomes very hard and cannot absorb the first rain that falls on it.

While sand runs though your hands, clay clumps. If you are growing only native plants suited to these soil types, fine. In a perfect world, we'd all be growing plants native to our regions. But we like variety -- wanting vegetables, fruits and other flowers and trees to grow. So sand is a problem. And so is clay.

What we need is something between the two.

Enter compost.

Adding compost to sandy soil improves its water-absorbing qualities. This means you water less often, and that the water is absorbed by the plants because the roots remain in contact with it longer. Add compost to clay-based soil, and it does the opposite: It improves drainage by introducing organic particles to the fine, thick clay, and breaks it up. Water moves through the soil better -- wicking away from the roots which suffocate in permanently damp conditions. For tired, un-renewed soil, compost improves it very gently. Think of compost as a healthy, life-long lifestyle diet for your garden.

Making your own compost requires some space, and some initial discipline, as does any new skill. Practice will make it easy. If you have the luxury of a garden where you can set aside an area for a compost pile or bin, you are lucky. And I encourage you to honor that luck by making compost. Think of the rest of us with 66 square feet of terrace space and no more...we have to compost on a Lilliputian scale.


There are several options for starting a compost pile: You can build a series of bins or wire cages so that you have different stages of of compost going at the same time. Or you can have a single pile that can only be used once the whole pile has broken down into usable compost. If you have a small space, like I do, you can purchase small bins whose contents are used once every few months.

Apart from the benefit to your garden, another reward of making your own compost is that you are using much of what you would usually throw away in the kitchen. Putting organic matter (that is potentially useful) in the trash is wasteful. Then there are long-term savings. A regularly-composted garden clearly needs no purchased compost, no mulch and very little fertilizer, if any.

What goes into compost from the kitchen?

-- Vegetable matter: fruit and vegetable peels, skins, leaves, stems, leftovers; a roughly uniform size means they will break down evenly in the pile or bin.

-- Avoid onions and garlic as they take a long time to break down and can inhibit bacterial growth, which you need.

-- Coffee grounds in moderation. They are very acidic (but good if the compost is going on on acid-loving blueberries, azaleas, rhododendrons).

-- Tea leaves and bags.

-- Egg shells. But never whole eggs.

-- Banana peels help compost break down quickly.

-- Never anything from the cats' litter tray or offerings from the dog.

-- No meat or bones.

-- No cheese or dairy.

When in doubt think, "ONLY VEGETABLES, NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS."

Keep a designated bucket with a lid in the kitchen for daily collection of compostable kitchen scraps.

Your garden or yard also produces compost ingredients:

-- Dried grass clippings are good if used sparingly in layers between other ingredients.
-- Small leaves and leaf litter. Large leaves should be shredded.
-- Weeds are OK unless they have set seed, which may germinate and grow.
-- Small twigs and clippings are fine. Chipped branches if you have a chipper!
-- Deadheaded flowers and annuals past their best.
-- No diseased plant matter should be added.

How long does compost take to be ready? That depends on the size of the bin or pile. When it is ready to be used compost is dark, friable and earthy-smelling. All the ingredients have blended and broken down. Compost does not and must not smell bad.


When do you add compost to the garden? Whenever you dig a new planting hole, add several cups of compost to it. Ideally, dig compost into empty beds before planting. Dig trenches along the length of your planting space, twelve inches down and about two feet across. For every three shovels of soil you dig out, add one shovel of compost. Then replace the soil. This is called double-digging. It is a lot of work, excellent exercise and worth every drop of sweat. In the fall, instead of mulch, spread a couple of inches of compost over your beds.

Compost tea is made by adding water to compost and allowing it to steep. You use the water as fertilizer and pour directly onto plants. Unlike synthetic fertilizers it will never burn roots and leaves and adds to the life of the soil.

Composting is a philosophy as much as it is a practical garden application. Taking care of the soil is one of our oldest instincts, forgotten in an age of agribusiness, where growing crops is an industrial act, but to which we are returning, like children back from a careless and bumpy joyride.

If you want to be a better gardener, making your own compost, or using compost instead of chemicals, is a sure way to achieve gardening nirvana.

Resources:

How to identify the type of soil you have in your garden.
Simple instructions on how to make compost, as well as more detailed instructions.

 

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