CAN I PLANT NOW?

This is the time of year when people are thinking about planting and dreaming of their beautiful flowering gardens. I have heard it said that it is time to plant when you start to see weeds sprouting. When they thrive, so will your plants. BUT WAIT! If you haven't refurbished your soil in a few years, it is time to prepare the ground to receive your new plants or to renew the soil to encourage your existing plants.
Before we can begin fixing your soil, we need to find out what you have. Following is a description of the different soils that you could have. If you can't figure out what you have from the descriptions and pictures,you can always have your soil tested. Many garden centers carry kits for this. It would be nice to think that by adding amendments to the soil now you will fix it. Unfortunately adjusting soil is a process that needs to be repeated for many years in order to make a "permanent" change.

1. Clay soil. Clay soil is very fine grained and feels like plastic when it is wet. Observe your soil when wet. If it tends to stay wet or pond water for several days after a rain and if during summer the ground cracks you may have clay or "heavy" soil. To adjust clay soil soil you can add coarse sand, compost and peat moss. The sand will open the spaces in the clay to allow for better drainage. Compost will add organic matter which will bring life to the soil. Peat moss aerates the soil and helps release water to plants appropriately.

2. Silt soil. Silt soil is larger than clay but smaller than sand. It is fertile light and moisture retentative. It compacts easily, doesn't clump and is slippery to the touch especially when wet. Purely silt soil is relatively rare. It is often in combination with sand or clay. To amend silt, you can add coarse sand or gravel and compost or well composted horse manure and straw. These amendments will help open the soil and allow the water that comes into the soil to be available for plant use.

3. Sandy Soil. Sandy soil has a gritty feel to it. You can ususally feel the sand in it and it falls through your fingers. It won't stick together if you try to make a sausage shape out of it. These soils are usually low in nutrients and don't hold water so that your plants dry out easily. They can be improved with humus or aged manure, peat moss or sawdust with extra nitrogen. When using any manure, be careful that it is aged or composed. Contrary to the way I grew up, it isn't best if it smells bad because that means that it isn't done composting and could burn your plants as well as your nose.

4. Loam Soil. This is the gold standard of soils. It usually is a combination of all three of the above soil types and is wonderful to grow anything but native plants in. Native plants want to grow in their native soil so rich soil is too rich for their blood.

5. About Fertilizer. Depending on your soil type and what plants you are inviting to your yard, you may need to add fertilizer. Fertilizer bags usually list the components in this order: Nitrogen (N) is responsible for leaf growth so it makes plants greener, Phosphorus (P) is responsible for root growth and fruit production, Potassium (K) helps fight off diseases and helps to keep plants vigorous.

6. A Last Pitch. As a last comment about the soil, if you have good soil or if you just planted last year and there is plenty of juice left in your soil, consider adding mulch or topdressing to the soil. Mulch will continue to improve your soil as it breaks down and both will help the soil retain moisture during the upcoming warm months and help to reduce weeds.

YES YOU CAN PLANT NOW!

You have planned your garden or the changes to your garden and now that your soil is right, you can plant. If you haven't started planning, do you want annuals? They are the WOW factor- flowers in low growing plants that impress you for one to six months and then they are gone. Perennials are herbaceous plants that live three to many years. The biggest mistake novice gardeners make in planting perennials or shrubs is not informing themselves of the amount of room needed for the ultimate size of the plant. Shrubs are woody plants that will last you for many years. Learn whether they are evergreen or deciduous. Deciduous plants drop all of their leaves usually in fall and winter. Some people have mistakenly thought their plants were dead and removed them when they were just deciduous.

TIP: You can plant perennials or shrubs and if you need instant gratification, plant annuals around them until they have a chance to grow.

ENJOY YOUR GARDEN!!!