When it’s time to start thinking about planting up our planters, conversation inevitably turns to the soil in the planters: can we use last year’s soil? Should we get new soil? Or can we mix the soils together? Every gardener has a formula that works best for them, but the other day I was browsing through a great book by Lois Hole and Jim Hole called “Bedding Plants: Practical Advice and the Science Behind It”, and I found some ideas that I wanted to share with you.
As we could expect, chapter one is entitled “Soil”, and the first question in the first chapter is “Why is good soil so important?” Jim’s reply is “You simply can’t grow a successful garden in bad soil. Creating and maintaining good soil may take some work, but no other gardening job is more important.” Lois’ reply says “Soil, both garden soil and potting soil, should serve your plants’ needs. Good soil anchors the roots firmly, but is loose and porous enough to allow them to grow and branch. It retains moisture, but has adequate drainage. It’s neither too acidic nor too alkaline, and contains all the nutrients your plants require.”
As we can see, good soil is the first and most important building block of our gardens and planters. One question listed in the book asked how to tell if we have good potting soil. Lois’ answer was a good beginning: “To check potting-soil quality, fill a small pot with your soil and water it thoroughly. Within a minute or so, the water should begin to drain through the holes at the bottom, leaving the soil moist and springy. If you find yourself with a pot full of soupy muck, try a different brand next time!”
Potting soil is composed of peat moss, vermiculite, perlite, dolomitic lime, and a wetting agent. The dolomitic lime raises the pH level of the soil and neutralizes the acidity that the peat moss may bring to the mixture. A wetting agent is a substance added to the soil to help it absorb water. Who knew that soil was so complex? It is good to remember that bought “potting soil” is usually a soil-less mix that provides most of what our plants need in terms of density and drainage.
The chapter on soil has an amusing anecdote by Lois about “making your own potting soil.” She says, “Make sure you’re not doing it to save money, because you won’t! It’s often both difficult and costly to gather all of the necessary ingredients. Even at the greenhouse we don’t mix our own potting soil.” She also adds that using a soil-less mix “… had other, clear advantages as well. It weighed much less than soil… it freed us from the annual chore of gathering soil and pasteurizing it, load by monotonous load… With so many excellent, affordable mixes on the market, though, it’s simply not worth the bother, if you ask me!”
So as I read on, I gathered that when it comes to garden soil, we should do all we can to amend it and make it healthy by adding compost and organic matter; and when it comes to our planters, bought soil-less mixes are the way to go.
These are all good points to keep in mind as we wait eagerly to get started in this year’s garden. If you see the Hole book for sale anywhere, it would make a valuable resource for any gardener. The Canadian gardening world lost a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic gardener when Lois Hole passed away in 2005. Her gardening books are still wonderful!
The next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be on Wednesday, April 15 at 7:00 p.m. at SIGN on North Street. Our guest speaker will be Glen Tymiak talking about “Gardening 101”: good gardening basics, and a little more! Glen is an outstanding gardener, growing beautiful veggies, fruits and flowers every year, and can give us a wealth of wonderful gardening information and advice. Bring along your notepad to jot down many helpful pointers! That’s on Wednesday, April 15.
Enjoy checking out what’s new in your garden each day; have a good week
