Amending Soil and Maybe Working Out Some Aggression?

Via Facebook wall post, afternoon of May 1st. I was back at the farm, recovering from an early morning, a long day, and hideously hot weather at the Purcellville farmers' market. This provided a nice distraction.

Q. Do tomatoes do OK in soil that has a lot of clay in it? I mixed in some good, rich potting soil and chopped it up with a pickaxe.

A. Love the image of you amending soil with a pickaxe! Short answer, IF you added enough non-clay ingredients in a deep/wide enough area, you should be okay. Long answer, I'll ramble at you in great detail when I'm not stuck with text messaging! [side note: Facebook Mobile, while slightly better than nothing, is a huge pain in my ass]

Q. How deep?

A. About a foot deep, to be on the safe side. The long answer part of all this, that I couldn't fit into a text message, was that if you have clay soil surrounding it on all sides and you only dig a big enough area for the size of the root system on the mature plant, you're basically just creating a nice little flowerpot within the ground--drainage is still going to suck, and your roots will likely become waterlogged. If you're amending, amend a very large area around the plant. It'll come in handy anyway, and your tomatoes will thank you. The same applies, even more so, if you're planting perennial stuff like rose bushes or fruit trees.

Q: [Not really a Q, but otherwise it doesn't line up all nice and neat!] Thanks!!! Pickaxe = all I could find after Mike cleaned the basement.

Sun, Shade, and Everything In Between.

A few weeks ago, via text.

Q. Can you grow tomatoes in part shade, or do they need a lot of sun? [paraphrased, as I've accidentally deleted the message]

A. Sorry, dude, tomatoes absolutely require a minimum of six hours of sun per day. No wiggle room. [Also paraphrased, and I seem to recall having used the words "boned," "screwed," or similar colorful euphemisms to describe his chances of getting a productive tomato harvest from the shady part of the yard]

More Info/Follow-Up: I have no idea why he was asking this; he grew great tomatoes in large containers on his (sunny) back porch last year, and has decided to do so again this year.

This question, whatever the inscrutable reasoning behind it, is a great example of some people's approach to gardening, especially in the early learning stages. They see that there's a little leeway between, say, full shade and part shade, or between "well drained soil" and not so well drained soil. They note that some plants survive through a light frost, and some even through a moderate freeze. They see experienced gardeners walk these fine lines with fair or even good results.

They assume, therefore, that the guidelines are arbitrary and mostly put there to annoy them. That's when the trouble starts.

"I put all eleven of my basil plants out early and they were doing great, but we had a few cool nights and now they're all dying of black spot fungus. The plants must have been defective!" (been there, done that)

"Can't understand why the marigolds and argeratum aren't doing well out back. Trees? Well, yeah, I guess I do have a few trees. And a bridge. And a some tall buildings. Why do you ask?" (guilty)

"Well, I dug down far enough to plant the rose bush, and maybe a little wider than the root ball, but I didn't feel like hacking through all that clay so I sort of stuffed it in and threw some dirt back around it. Is that why it looks like that?" (Only once! And it was a crappy rose bush to begin with. Really it was.)

Yes, experience and experimentation are absolutely the best way to learn! The question is: how many plants do you want to kill for each lesson? You can (briefly, partially) cheat Mother Nature. You can phone it in, you can half-ass it, you can make it up as you go along . . . but trust me when I tell you that you will have infinitely better results if you educate yourself about what conditions are best for which plants, and then make good use of that information.

In the interim, I should warn you that the rest of us are taking it in shifts to walk past your sad, straggly tomato plants, your drooping basil, and your dead flowers and mutter a few words of sympathy. We assure them you'll learn. We're not sure they believe us.

First, grow yourself some soil . . . .

Q. I am starting a garden! At least I've bought some seeds and some starter plants: broccoli, tomato & cabbage. I've been learning little things along the way: you can plant a whole potato & the number of eyes it has is the number of potatoes you can potentially get.

But here's the thing. A friend of mine asked me if I had toilable land or something like that? I think she meant if it was good ground to plant in...and then I realized. I have no idea! Holy crap! I've bought plants and seeds & I don't even know if my ground is fertile! I mean, there's grass, does that mean it will support my veggies? If you have any resources you'd like to refer me to, so you don't have to answer all of my amateur questions, feel free.

Oh and btw, do you think I should get a Farmer's Almanac?

Sincerely,
Stuck between a hoe and a hard place.

((ha ha ha)):: Wouldn't that be awesome if you started a blog where you could answer questions like mine? You could totally call yourself the Gardening Ninja. Folks would love that shit!

A. Excellent questions . . . by the way, the number of eyes on a potato is the number of potato PLANTS you'll get from it--you should cut the potato into chunks, each chunk containing at least one eye, before you plant it.

If you're tearing up your lawn, chances are you have so/so soil. It may be compacted and depleted, and chances are that when your building was constructed the workers just threw whatever clay, rock, etc. they had left over out front and called it a yard. That's standard practice. The good news: you've got to start somewhere, and that's as good a place as any! Dig deep, break up major clumps, and add as much organic material as possible. Ideally, compost and lots of it (raided from gardening friends--if I was around, I'd give you a bunch--or purchased in a bag from Lowe's; it's not cheating, I swear), but really ANYTHING you can add to loosen the dirt up a little will get microbes, enzymes, earthworms, etc., started on what they do best, which is create kick-ass soil for you. Grass clippings (sans herbicides, of course), finely shredded newspaper or other materials, layers of cardboard, hay, coffee grounds . . . etc, etc. If you have potted stuff that's done, you can dig in a bunch of leftover potting soil. Chop stuff up as fine as possible, mix it well, and water it to keep it moist if there's not rain.

I just caught myself getting ready to head off into a giant tangent about sheet composting and lasagna gardening, but stopped myself at the last minute. ;) Getting better about that!

You should not get a Farmer's Almanac. I have extras, and will bring you one! Um. Text me during that first week or so of May and remind me.

What you SHOULD get is a subscription to Mother Earth News, $10 at their website. And/or continue to pick my brain, as it's full of the same info, but without the pretty pictures. ;)

Hmmmm. I may have to do that blog thing . . . :ponders:. Sounds fun, actually!

Let me know if any of the above helps, or if you have other questions!
Always,
The Garden Ninja

More Info/Follow-Up: I know everybody's first question is "Why didn't you suggest raised beds?" . . . and my answer, once I get done with the rude hand gestures at the peanut gallery, is this: I know the questioner in this case to be an extremely overscheduled young woman; if she has time to stuff a few plants into the ground, I'm impressed. Figuring out good spots for raised beds and constructing something to contain them (yes, you can do them without containment; I strongly prefer them with it as it delays their inevitable return to a level state and provides a nice visual barrier), filling them to the brim with good soil, etc., is simply not going to happen.

It's better to start small than to never start at all.