I sniffed around my garden today and was pleasantly surprised. The ground has been unfrozen for a few weeks and I used my soil thermometer to check the temps. 55 degrees.
Perfect. Spinach, peas, lettuce, onions and potatoes will germinate just fine.
What was really delightful in my first serious seasonal foray into the garden was to discover that no dandelions have germinated in the loamy moist soil. That means I actually did a pretty good job of weeding them out last year. I think it’s also an indication of a balanced, fertile soil, although I certainly could be wrong on that.
Keeping your soil alive and healthy is really the key to growing beautiful vegetables and flowers. But how do you do that?
It can get really complex – soil science is a specialized field, after all. But the easiest way to make sure your soil is alive and healthy is to add from 3-4 inches of high-quality compost and/or manure to your garden every year. Organic matter is the key to soil health. It keeps the pH in line, making sure all the elements necessary for plant growth are available. It also improves water-holding capacity and soil tilth and supplies micro-nutrients to your garden.
Figuring out if your soil is fertile is easy. Have your soil tested. Local county extension agents and the University of Minnesota do soil tests for a small charge. They’ll test for the basic building blocks of plant growth –nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium –as well as the pH, or the acidity of your soil. They can also test for the amount of organic matter in your soil.
“The critical piece is pH,” said Wayne Seidel, Lake County extension agent. “You can add all the nutrients you want, but if your soil is too acidic or alkaline, your plants can’t utilize them.”
For best vegetable production, your soil should be between 6.7 and 7 on the pH scale, about neutral, he said. Wood ashes (to sweeten the soil) can be added to change the pH, but be careful here, he added. If your soil is too sweet, potatoes can get scabby.
That happened to me the first year I gardened in my present spot. The next year, I added some pine needles to the row and it helped a lot. Consult with your extension agent or gardening expert to find out how to correct your pH.
The soil test will also tell you how much nitrogen (N), potassium (P) and phosphorus (K) is in the soil.
Nitrogen is one of the most important (and elusive) elements needed for good plant growth. It gives plants their healthy green color and promotes stem and leaf growth, but it moves around in the soil and you have to make sure you have sources of it available for your plants during the entire growing season. Blood meal is a good source for it.
Phosphorus is the key element for flowering, so if you want to have lots of tomatoes, this is the element that will make sure your vines are loaded. Bone meal is a great source if your soil is low in phosphorous.
Potassium is the root element, essential for tuber growth, including potatoes and carrots. Greensand and wood ash are good sources here.
The best source for all these elements is cow or chicken manure. But it has to be well composted. If not, you’ll also be adding lots of weed seeds, and they will compete for all those wonderful nutrients you have made available to your garden.
A plant’s needs change during the growing season, too, and top dressing with a manure or a good compost can be really important for production. I use copious quantities of fish emulsion during the summer, too. It’s a great fertilizer, and modern production techniques have cut down on the smelliness of it – somewhat. You can find it at any gardening supply store. I use it as a foliar feed – 1 teaspoon per gallon sprayed on the leaves every two weeks. The plants love it.
I bought one of those small pressurized pesticide applicators and fill the tank with the fish emulsion mix and spray away. It’s really fast to do and the plants respond immediately. There are great organic fertilizers out there now, too, and they can be worked into the soil during the growing season.
If your soil is healthy and alive, your plants will thrive. May it be so.
