When we first moved here, we had to restore the house. We endured 6 months of living in 2 rooms upstairs, with dumpsters and trucks parked in the backyard. Once the contractors left, the soil was so compacted that only wire grass would grow.
Because we had moved from the city so that I could grow our own vegetables, this was a huge problem.
Next, we had topsoil dumped in our yard and we spent the first fall spreading it around, building a rain garden, paths and our patio. This gave me the base for next spring’s garden.
We built raised beds in the kitchen garden so that I could have a better quality of soil quickly.
Then, I did a full design of the backyard showing gardens, patio and paths.
I put in a cottage garden mixed with vegetables. The end result was actually better than what I had expected for the first year of gardening here. Our home and lot had been abandoned and unloved for many years. I was amazed anything grew.
The vegetable harvest was bountiful!
The next year the garden did not do as well as the first, which was shocking to me.
After talking with a friend that helps on an organic farm nearby, she told me to call someone that had helped them with some issues they were having. So, I gave him a call and he recommended that I not get a soil test and then set me up on a season long regiment that included natural amendments to the soil and adding mycorrhizal fungi to help the plants to get more nutrients from the soil and increase their access to deeper moisture. My garden still failed and was worse than the year before.
Here are the symptoms that I have been seeing:
Poor germination – I don’t know if I can blame this entirely on my soil. This may also be from squirrels and birds. I am considering covering my kitchen garden beds with summer cloth over hoops. This will also prevent some insect infestation.
Stunted Growth -Plants doing well in the greenhouse only to stop growing once they are planted in the ground. This is after hardening off (which is the process of acclimating the plants from the greenhouse to the outdoors), holes prepared with compost worked into the soil and watered in. They then stay stunted and have very poor production. Last year’s pepper plants only produced one or two peppers, if any, and never reached full size.
Stems are weak – Often tall flowers, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, and onions are so weak that they fall over if not supported.
Here is a weak pepper that needed support.
Poor production – Due to all of the above, production was at about a third of the potential of my garden. Even with watering when needed and feeding the plants with Kelp every week to 10 days.
Pests and diseases – Because of the weakness in the plants, they were susceptible to pests and diseases. I fought off aphids of every color, harlequin bugs, which I had never seen before, powdery mildew, root rot…the list goes on.
This is squash with Powdery Mildew
So, I am going back to school
This year I have pulled out all the stops. I am taking a master gardening course. I am amazed at the amount of information that is taught by specialists and professors with the University of Maryland. If you are interested in attending a Master Gardening class in your area, check with your County Extension Service for more information.
They highly recommend soil tests, so I have gotten one. What I have learned is that the potassium is low and the pH is so high (alkaline) that no matter what amendments I add and how perfect the balance is, the plants cannot absorb the nutrients if the pH is not around 6.2 – 6.5. Mine is 7.8!
The report below shows two locations, the kitchen garden (first column) and the gardens in the backyard (second column). I took samples from 5 spots in each location from a depth of 6”. Mixed each in a bucket, placed in a sterilized bag and sent off to the lab.
It is harder to lower the pH than it is to raise it. So, it will be a process that will not happen quickly.
The first thing I did was to replenish the soil in the raised beds. This meant topping it off with sustainable peat/coir, composted cow manure, (I used bagged organic to avoid pesticides sprayed on pastures), perlite, and natural amendments including Organic Greensand Plant Enhancer to add potassium. After topping off the beds, I worked in Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier Amendment to lower the pH.
Next, I weeded all of my beds throughout the backyard. This part of the yard is planted with perennials, roses, herbs and shrubs to create a cottage garden. Vegetables are worked into the cottage gardens. This technique is ideal for helping to attract pollinators and beneficial insects. It also protects the vegetables by masking their scents, such as rosemary with carrots to hide them from carrot flies attracted to the smell of the tops.
After weeding the perennial beds, I worked the soil with a 3-pronged garden tool, added the Organic Greensand Plant Enhancer and the Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier. This was then worked into the loose soil.
My garden is now ready for the plants from my greenhouse.
The hardening off process has started and I am only about 10 days to 2 weeks from moving them to their new homes in the gardens. During that time, I will be moving the plants from the greenhouse to a protected area under a tree and slowly moving them to full sun to acclimate them to the outside conditions.
The other big change this year is that we have installed an irrigation drip system throughout the garden. Last year was dreadful. High heat and humidity meant that I was watering almost every day. The installation was easy in the raised beds, but due to the cottage garden design for the rest of the yard, it was not as systematic as the rigidity and right angles of the kitchen garden. But, after much discussion and watching irrigation installations on YouTube, Dudley and I set off to install the rest of the yard.
This change may also be beneficial for my gardens for another big reason. I had no idea when I added 3 rain barrels 2 years ago that I might be hurting my chances of a healthy garden. What I have just learned in my master gardening training is that asphalt shingles are often treated with a fungicide to prevent the growth of fungi. This then runs off into the gutters and into my rain barrels.
Wikipedia states, “Fungicide in agriculture can cause serious damage, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality and profit.”
Who knew!!
Day to day maintenance
A daily walk through the garden is important. This is the best chance to fight off pests and diseases before they take over. This may require pulling off pests or affected leaves. Spraying with organic products, such as Neem Oil, BT, or Copper, depending on the infestation or disease early can help save your plants. You can also manage if watering needs to increase or decrease, tie up or support plants and see if there is any produce that needs to be harvested.
Even though we have irrigation this year, it will take some time to understand how much water each zone of the garden needs and if anything is missed. Adjustments will need to be made on how often each area is watered and for how long, to get it just right. I will still need to manually feed once a week to 10 days. This I do with a watering can – an arduous process but doing it once a week as opposed to 2 hours daily is a huge improvement.
Other maintenance will be pruning Heirloom tomatoes so that they stay on the trellises, supporting tall plants, like coneflowers, peonies and yarrow to keep them tidy and stopping to smell the roses!!
This is going to be a huge year in The Fulfilled Journey garden. I hope that you will follow along to see what works and what may not. Fingers crossed.
If you are having problems in your garden, get a soil test. Find a location in your general area. If you don’t know of anyone, ask your extension office. They will also go over your soil test with you and advise if an action needs to be taken. They are a valuable resource!
