Judith’s Corner - January, 2004

Remember when I said we should all pray for a cold winter? Well, it's time to stop--we had our prayers answered with a vengeance, and now we need to move on. Direct your prayers toward membership growth, please. And, next time we pray for a cold winter, let's be more specific--let's say we want cold without inversions or cloud cover!

    I've begun Master Gardener classes, and after just one class, I'm ready to dig up and redo my entire yard full of mistakes. One thing is clear--for gardening in this area, it's all about the soil. Unlike other parts of the country with topsoil ready to be planted in, our soil is made of 4000 foot deep layers of Mancos Shale, which is a fancy way of saying ancient seabed. That means salty soil that's mostly clay. Amending the soil here is critical to healthy plant growth, and roses need nice wide holes, with sloping sides, loaded with lots of amended soil. I say this knowing, now, that none of the holes I dug for my roses were wide enough, and the sides of the holes were too vertical. Sigh!

    Clay isn't all bad--it holds water and nutrients well--almost too well. A lack of adequate oxygen for roots is often the biggest problem with clay, either from too much water being held in the clay, or from compression, which clay does very easily. And, as it turns out, the homemade compost I've been so proud of may actually be finer than is good for mixing in clay. Soil needs some chunky pieces, too. More tree chips!

    Then, there's the salts. There's way too much salt in the soil here, so if anyone tells you to add gypsum or lime, you can be pretty sure they're a transplant from another part of the country. Additionally, a lot of commercial plant foods are high in salts, so they should be used very carefully. I'm now in search of the perfect low salt plant food--I'll get back to you on that.

    Another thing I learned is that the yellowing often attributed to iron deficiency is, in this area, a nitrogen deficiency rather than low iron.  Nitrogen deficiency is common here--who knew?

    Do you still have skims of snow in your yard? Get rid of them, and water your garden! That snow cover isn't watering your yard--it's actually sucking the moisture from the ground, so it's a menace, not a friend.

    Don't you just hate a know-it all? Curtis Swift has warned all of us in the class that spouses and neighbors are not friendly to freely given advice from Master Gardeners. He advised us to wait until we're asked a specific question if we want to maintain those relationships. New information is like a good drug! I'll try not to be obnoxious--stop me before I advise again!

Judith Curtis-Mardon

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