A Gardener's Retreat

We’ve had our garden plot since 2006 and grown a lot of food in it.  But up to now, we’ve not given much back to the earth who made those tasty vegetables a reality.  But after a couple disappointing seasons and a sober look at our situation, we realized we needed to revitalize our soil with something more substantial than just organic fertilizer mix.  Our dirt needed organic matter, specifically, the kind that you get from decaying plants.

I did a little research and learned that leaf mold is a great source of organic matter for gardens.  Fortunately, that’s something we have in abundance at home, so we carted large batches of it over to the garden in tubs and added it everywhere, but especially in all the places where we knew our future crops would want rich soil.  That was a good start but I wanted more, and soon I had my sights on the Nature Mill XE Plus Indoor/Outdoor Composter.  My father-in-law obligingly bought me one for my birthday and since then, we’ve been able to side dress the more hungry crops with homemade compost.  It’s pretty hot, having only seasoned a few weeks, but our plants seem fine and if anything, beefier than usual.

Today, we checked on everything after the rain and were impressed with how much our seedlings and starts have grown.  The beet and chard circle in the middle of our space is packed, and although I had thought I was planting sparsely, it looks like at least a few of those borage plants are going to have to go somewhere else…  The kale is also performing well, and the tomatoes too.  Over in the squash patch, the zucchini are puny but have lots of flowers, whatever that means, and the cucumbers which I planted recently are struggling up at a glacial rate.  But I have no doubt they’ll be flourishing soon enough.

Cedar Waxwing - Masked Bandits of the Birds

The surprise for this week was the radishes, which had been producing big bushy tops and puny radishes.  I thought the soil was perhaps too fertile and that I might not get much of a crop this year.  But today, I noticed a large purple radish bursting out of the soil under a giant leaf top.  Hmmmm, I thought — that doesn’t look underdeveloped.  So I looked around some more and noticed that I had a few other radish gods going that had come out of nowhere.  Across the aisle in the other radish bed, the radishes were large but not huge, and the tops less bodacious than those of the first set.  So I’m guessing that the big tops do have overly fertile dirt but nevertheless, they are making big radishes so I can’t complain.

Pest alert:  if you’re wondering what got your strawberries, it was the cedar waxwings (a type of bird) who became bold and besotted with them just at the time they reached their peak of perfect ripeness. Alas.

New community gardener HB sent this helpful post for the benefit of fellow gardeners:

Hi fellow gardeners! Lisa asked me to put together some tips for growing successfully in sandy soil. So here they are.

A little bit about me: My name is HB and I’m a farmer (though currently working an off- farm job). I started out farming in Maine in 2003 and since then have spent time growing food in Southeastern Washington; Portland, Oregon; West Oakland, California and then spent last season back in Freedom, Maine.

One thing I’ve learned (and that I love about farming/gardening) is that no one ever knows all there is to know. Below are some things that I’ve found to work but I’m excited to learn with and from all of you too.

Additionally, it’s really nice if you are a beginning gardener (or beginning in anything) to have some immediate successes. Hopefully what follows will help you grow some delicious and beautiful things.

Big Picture
When I think about growing in sandy soil, there are a two large picture things I think about first:

1) Sandy soil drains faster than other soils, and

2) sandy soils tend to not hold on to nutrients as well as other soils.

These are not hard and fast rules, just suggestions…

1. Tend away from those plants that are total water hogs.
   • Celery comes to mind
2. Tend away from those plants that need a ton of nutrients
3. Add soil amendments when you can
   • this is true for most soils) adding things like bone meal, manure, compost, alfalfa are great slow-releases of organic matter/nutrients into the soil.
   • things like fish and blood meal will help plants grow big and strong but contribute less to the overall health of the soil over time.
4. Root veggies (beets, carrots, parsnips…) can have real success in sandy soils!
5. In order to reduce the effects of water leaching nutrients from the soil, keep the majority of soil covered with plants the majority of the time.
   • This is a great general rule! it helps prevent evaporation/erosion
   • In sandy soil it’s really great because it helps keep the water that is in the soil in the soil.

**What’s that saying– there’s more than one way to skin a cat? I’m sure for every tip mentioned above, each person you ask will have several experiences in direct contradiction to my words. Take it as you will and don’t be afraid to try some exciting things! You can always feast on the community rhubarb that’s already coming up…hb

In trying to figure out ways to enrich and add humus to our sandy community garden soil, I realized that without a compost source, some creativity was going to be necessary. Around the same time, I was given a copy of The Permaculture Way by Graham Bell, which inspired me with a wide array of fertilizing options.

For starters, fertilizer is more than just a chemical emulsion that you apply. Chemical fertilizer may provide a cheap shot of “nutrition” for your plants but it won’t do anything for your soil, except possibly kill it. Real fertilizing is more about the soil itself — creating healhty, living soil full of microorganisms and organic matter. You can’t get that out of a bottle, and that’s why learning about soil amendment and natural plant food is so important. In The Permaculture Way, Graham Bell throws out a variety of ideas, most of them cheap and easy to make use of.

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