We had such a great night learning about gardening basics from Brother Carlson. We only began to pick his amazing brain, and I for one, learned so much. As a result, I am really excited to give a small garden a try this year. We are very grateful for the Carlsons' sacrifice allowing us this fabulous and educational evening.
LOCATION
The first thing Brother Carlson talked to us about was location. Obviously, being from all over the United States, we all have different references for soil, growing seasons, and the like. Brother Carlson focused us in our location here in Virginia and talked to us about how to be successful in our gardening efforts.
We learned that our soil here is fairly good for gardening. Yes that red Virginia clay is good (I know! Who would have guessed?) It is good because the clay holds water and nutrients rather than having them bleed out as is the case in more sandy soil. The answer to making the clay soil more workable and nutrient rich is to amend it prior to planting. This means you need to get some good compost material and work it into your soil. This provides the soil with the nitrogen necessary to help grow your garden plants.
COMPOST
Did you know that here in Central Virginia many of us have an abundance of material to provide our soil with adequate compost? It is the leaves that fall everywhere each autumn. Brother Carlson has built a compost heap using palates and stakes. He suggests piling up your raked up leaves and turning them with a pitchfork occasionally through the winter. When they are good and black and have a nice earthy smell, they are ready to be tilled back into the soil. Make sure they have composted adequately if you choose to try this yourself. If they are still brown and resemble leaves, they are not yet adequately composted. They will, as a result, take more nitrogen from the soil as they continue to compost. You will, therefore, need to add nitrogen fertilizer to compensate. Brother Carlson says that this composting takes very little space. I suggest asking him for details if you want to try this yourself this coming year.
Many kinds of organic material can be used as compost. The idea is get organic matter into the soil. Among other items, Brother Carlson mentioned old sawdust.
How do we know a good compost? It should smell earthy. It should also be a deep brown or black in color. Brother Carlson recommends against cow manure. Because of the way cows eat and digest, cow manure compost will contain a lot of weed seeds adding to your weeding duties unnecessarily later. Horse manure, on the other hand, works well. Again, it should have an earthy smell not a strong manure smell. Good compost should also have a crumbly texture.
NOTE: DO NOT AMEND YOUR SOIL WITH SAND. THOUGH MANY ARE TEMPTED DUE TO THE WATER RETAINING NATURE OF CLAY, MIXING SAND INTO THE CLAY SOIL WILL YIELD BRICKS NOT GOOD GARDENING SOIL
Also as a side note. We learned that if you have perennials and such already planted, but would really like to enrich their soil without digging everything up, you can add compost material on the top. It will take longer to amend the soil, but it will help, and the root systems will work up into the good healthy soil as the compost breaks down into your topsoil.
TYPE OF GARDEN
For nearly all of us, the primary issue we have when it comes to planning a personal garden is space.
Stay tuned. I will complete post as soon as is possible.
