No Rain? Best Way To Help Your Plants

I think I saw a rain drop yesterday.  That was it.  A rain drop.  Here in Central Florida we are now facing our third month with below normal rainfall and heading into a dry spring season.  Add summer time temperatures to the lack of rain and we have stressful conditions for our landscape. 

The good news is that we know that with these weather patterns that we can control how we take care of our landscape.  We can adjust our irrigation, reduce our fertilization and pruning, replenish our mulch, but what else can you do to help your plants handle the temporary drought cycle?

You can add amendments to your garden beds and surrounding shrubs and young trees. Adding organic materials to your sandy soils will help keep the moisture in the ground, provide nutrients that will help plants thrive, and reduce the amount of garden chores that usually come from having 'less than optimum' sand.

Myakka Sand

Our state soil 'Myakka' was designated in 1989, because Florida (an Indian word for 'Big Waters') has more total acreage of Myakka sand than any other soil type. This native soil which is wet sandy soil with an underground layer of organic subsoils is not found in any other state. 

While most new residents from up North like to complain about our dirt. Its not bad. It just is. Myakka sand can provide good drainage, easy to dig in, and does have macronutrients and minerals in it.

Yet sandy soils do not retain moisture very long and can have microbacterial conditions that allow for quick decomposition, leaching nutrients, and nemotodes. Adding organic amendments to your soils is a great way to help your plants survive easier during hotter, dryer periods.

How much should you add?  For a typical 10 square feet, you can add one bag (20 lbs) of top soil, one bag of peat moss, and one bag of manure.  Or you can substitute similar amounts of mushroom or your own seasoned compost.  Work the amendments into the top six to eight inches of your garden bed or apply it around to your shrubs and trees and work it into the ground.

Be careful not to add green compost ingredients, i.e. coffee grounds, manure, in large amounts to your plants as they can have unintended consequences such as increasing acidity or binding nutrients up.  Add fresh coffee grounds, tea leaves, etc to your compost pile and let them age.

• More information on composting.
• 163 things to add to your compost
• Compost - Living Green - IFAS
• Compost Tips For Home Gardeners - IFAS

Free Gold For Your Garden

One of the best soil amendments you can add to your yard is mushroom compost.  A by-product of mushroom farming, mushroom compost is rich with macro and micronutrients, good bacteria, and organic soil enhancements that improve water infiltration and retention. Its great to add to sandy and clay soils.  And while this soil amendment is one of the best, its not the cheapest to add to your soil. 

But not this week! Today through Saturday from 7:00am to 3:00pm, the Monterey Mushroom Farm in Zellwood, Florida is giving away free mushroom compost.  Bring your own containers or truck beds.

Their location is 5949 Sadler Rd Zellwood, FL 32798, and their telephone number for more information is
(407) 905-4000.

Mushroom compost is derived from all organic materials such as hay, straw, horse bedding, chicken litter, cottenseed meal, cocoa shells, and gypsum.  It can used to amend soils before sod laying, adding plants to your garden beds, prevents destructive artillary fungus from establishing, decreases the need for liming soils, and reduces the need to fertilize for a year.

Mushroom Compost Organization

Mushroom compost landscape uses

Take advantage of this wonderful, free supply that Monterey Farms is providing! Remember its only through this Saturday.

Simple Resolutions and Smart Solutions for 2012

Happy New Year! I hope this season of reflection and assessment will help you garden with soul and create an environment that will help you become healthier, wealthier, and wise. My four part series of resolutions this year are simple. With the economic times, I’m looking to working smarter in my yard, invigorate myself and my landscape, and recycle what works to save dollars and time.  Here's the first of the New Year series - the three areas of my landscape I need to work on:

Resolution: Use my compost pile more often.

I have a great compost bin that holds a bounty of hardworking earthworms and humus. But because my yard is already at a level elevation, I don’t usually take the time to incorporate the wonderfully organic matter into my soil as much as I should. It’s ridiculous to have this valuable resource and not use it. This year I’m going to use compost more to replace my tired soil with the nutrient rich humus. I’m going to put those good earthworms to work in my yard. 

Resolution: Spiffy up a boring corner with an easy care, low water use container garden.

It’s been six years since I designed my front landscape and it is in need of rearranging and invoking new life. I’m going to dig up my northwest corner “foundation” shrubs and move them around the yard like sofa furniture till I’m happy. Then I’m going to add a new colorful container with colorful xeric perennials, annuals, and a vine or groundcover that spills over, to the corner like a new end table with a beautiful lamp. Oh, that gives me an idea… solar lighting for an uplifting night time display.

Resolution: Create a seating area in my garden.

While I have “floors” of walking paths in my front and backyards, and “walls” of foundation plants, I haven’t decided on seating. Do I want wrought iron, cement or wood furniture? I have wrought iron rocking chairs that are ideal for the garden but do I want to take them off the patio? I also have wood that Tony could make into a swing. I sometimes see aged cement benches in yard sales and on Craig’s list. Don’t pass them up. Deciding on what type of chair I want will help me select the flooring underneath, whether it’s recycled bricks, pavers, or flagstone.

 If I do those two garden projects and incorporate my compost, I will be very satisfied at the end of the year to achieve those goals. Stay tuned for the after pictures!

What are your gardening New Year Resolutions?

Tomorrow, will be the second part for getting off to a good start in the New Year.  I'll provide some simple solutions to help you save money, make better use of what you have, and take time to enjoy living in your garden.

Ground-Breaking Soil Research

Soil science research is being turned upside down with the latest EPA studies how water flows through soils. Working with Oregon State University scientists, the EPA study with the assistance of new technology that allows scientists to "fingerprint" water, finds that plant root systems allow for greater uptake than previously thought.

The new study by scientists from Oregon State University and the Environmental Protection Agency showed – much to the surprise of the researchers – that soil clings tenaciously to the first precipitation after a dry summer, and holds it so tightly that it almost never mixes with other water.

The finding is so significant, researchers said, that they aren't even sure yet what it may mean. But it could affect our understanding of how pollutants move through soils, how nutrients get transported from soils to streams, how streams function and even how vegetation might respond to climate change.

Jeff McDonnell, an OSU distinguished professor and holder of the Richardson Chair in Watershed Science in the OSU College of Forestry quoted:

"We used to believe that when new precipitation entered the soil, it mixed well with other water and eventually moved to streams. We just found out that isn't true... This could have enormous implications for our understanding of watershed function, it challenges about 100 years of conventional thinking."

These latest studies, published in Nature GeoScience will shed new insights and possibly different stormwater engineering policies for the future. Read the entire article here.

Getting Hands Dirty Is Good For The Soul

I've known for years that digging in the dirt, gardening with vigor is good for your soul. It does a body good.

Well, now science is backing that up. The latest research out of the United Kingdom suggests that a type of good bacteria found in dirt may affect the brain in a similar way as antidepressants.

Researchers from Bristol University and University College London discovered using laboratory mice, that a "friendly" bacteria commonly found in soil activated brain cells to produce the brain chemical serotonin and altered the mice's behaviour in a similar way to antidepressants.

They are suggesting this could explain why immune system imbalance could make some people vulnerable to mood disorders like depression.

Lead author, Dr Chris Lowry from Bristol University said, "These studies help us understand how the body communicates with the brain and why a healthy immune system is important for maintaining mental health".

"They also leave us wondering if we shouldn't all be spending more time playing in the dirt," he added.

Dr Lowry and colleagues became interested in the project when they heard that cancer patients treated with the bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae reported increases in their quality of life. They speculated this could be because the bacteria were activating brain cells to release more serotonin.

Check out "Gardening With Soul" and find out why gardening is good for you. I promise you will feel better afterwards.