Rethinking my soil
Well apparently I still won't be getting my veggies in ground yet. Since I was making holes in my ground for the poles to hold up the shade cloth, fence, and bird netting, I think my soil still has a little too much clay. Even after getting the 3 truck loads of horse manure with the 20 3 cu. ft. bags of garden soil, and 2 trucks loads this year. I realize I need to go ahead and add the garden soil this year too. After all I did have the soil dug deeper this year.
This week I want to talk about the seedlings. I have been using those Jiffy seed starting disks, and have never had a problem using them till this year. I have been having a problem with seedlings failing. There sometimes is a white mold that grows at the top of the disk that has been killing the seedling. I have actually never had this happen before till this year. What I finally realized I was doing differently was three things. One, that I was over watering the discs after the seeds have sprouted, two, that I had actually purchased a few of Jiffy's seeding trays, and started the seeds in them, and three, that I didn't have any moving air around them.
Lets start with the first issue. That white mold eats away at the base of the plant. It's that simple.
Second issue. The seedling trays are set up so the disks sit side by side impeding air flow which will stop the growth of the mold. In the past I have always used a large plastic tray. The one you put under potted plants. The disks have always been placed apart from each other.
Third, The moving air is necessary to help stop the growth of the mold.
When you do use these types of seed starters. Once the seeds have sprouted pull back on the watering. They only need to be kept wet while waiting for the seeds to sprout. For me once they sprouted I watered a little every two days.
Have a good week.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Fence around the veggie garden cont...
Well to start off, I seem to have miss placed my camera, so I won't be able to take pictures of the fence up around the garden. I did manage to also get a little gate up, so at this point I just have my plants to plant, and get the shade cloth to get up.
Watering in the Desert
The issue of watering is extremely subjective. The reason being that our soil is clay, or caliche which is just a more compacted rocky clay soil, or sandy. One of the hardest questions to answer at work is "how much do I water this plant. I don't know what type of soil they have, so it very difficult to answer that question. If you have clay soil; that soil will hold on to the water longer. If you have sandy soil the water just runs through it. If you have sandy soil you will be water a lot more often.
In pots water till the water comes out of the bottom of the pot. In ground water to the depth. of 8 - 9" for shallow rooted plants. Shrubs to the depth of 14 - 18". Trees water to the depth of 22 - 28". You can test this in clay soil 20 minutes after the water has shut, off by taking a skinny plant stake, and shove it in the ground. When the stake stops, you have just hit dry soil. Grab it at soil level, and pull it out of the ground, measure how many inches went into the soil. If you didn't reached your desired inches you know that you need to increase your watering time. I have a peach tree I am watering once a month at the moment because I water it to 22". The clay is really holding that water, or the roots have found an under ground water source.
What I like to tell people is; in 85° and up, your 6 packs, and 1- 2 qt. nursery plants; in pots water everyday. In ground water everyday, and to watch for the signs of over watering in both situations. Which will be for the majority of the plants out there, starting underneath leaves turning solid yellow and dropping off. That is actually the second sign of over watering. The first you have to be paying more attention to the plants. The first sign is plants that just aren't producing. Not as many blooms as there should be, and slow to no growth. When this happens cut back on your watering.
Clay soil
How do you know if you have clay soil. You soak a spot of the ground, grab a hand full, and squeeze it. If it stays in form you have clay. If it falls apart in your hand you have sandy.
Clay soil helps to hold the moisture. All you do is add your amendments to the soil, ( I like 50% clay 50% amendments) and grow to your hearts desire. For anyone who doesn't know what I mean by amendments; that means any of these, composted horse manure, composted steer manure, compost you make yourself, garden soil, compost you purchase at the store. Mulch, ( as long as it is not just strait bark. Which is used for decoration or helping to keep moisture in the soil around your landscaped plants.)
By the way when you get your compost home and you open the bag and find white mold growing on the soil. There is nothing wrong with the soil. That is the natural thing soils do to break down to soil. It is beneficial fungi interacting with other parts of the soil, and micro nutrients are necessary for plant growth. Another thing. There is nothing wrong with wood chips, or bark in you compost. When wood breaks down it becomes nitrogen for the plants.
Sandy soil
What is there to say, you need to add a lot of compost to it to get it to hold water.
That is the basics of watering in the desert. If you have questions for your own situations feel free to ask.
Well to start off, I seem to have miss placed my camera, so I won't be able to take pictures of the fence up around the garden. I did manage to also get a little gate up, so at this point I just have my plants to plant, and get the shade cloth to get up.
Watering in the Desert
The issue of watering is extremely subjective. The reason being that our soil is clay, or caliche which is just a more compacted rocky clay soil, or sandy. One of the hardest questions to answer at work is "how much do I water this plant. I don't know what type of soil they have, so it very difficult to answer that question. If you have clay soil; that soil will hold on to the water longer. If you have sandy soil the water just runs through it. If you have sandy soil you will be water a lot more often.
In pots water till the water comes out of the bottom of the pot. In ground water to the depth. of 8 - 9" for shallow rooted plants. Shrubs to the depth of 14 - 18". Trees water to the depth of 22 - 28". You can test this in clay soil 20 minutes after the water has shut, off by taking a skinny plant stake, and shove it in the ground. When the stake stops, you have just hit dry soil. Grab it at soil level, and pull it out of the ground, measure how many inches went into the soil. If you didn't reached your desired inches you know that you need to increase your watering time. I have a peach tree I am watering once a month at the moment because I water it to 22". The clay is really holding that water, or the roots have found an under ground water source.
What I like to tell people is; in 85° and up, your 6 packs, and 1- 2 qt. nursery plants; in pots water everyday. In ground water everyday, and to watch for the signs of over watering in both situations. Which will be for the majority of the plants out there, starting underneath leaves turning solid yellow and dropping off. That is actually the second sign of over watering. The first you have to be paying more attention to the plants. The first sign is plants that just aren't producing. Not as many blooms as there should be, and slow to no growth. When this happens cut back on your watering.
Clay soil
How do you know if you have clay soil. You soak a spot of the ground, grab a hand full, and squeeze it. If it stays in form you have clay. If it falls apart in your hand you have sandy.
Clay soil helps to hold the moisture. All you do is add your amendments to the soil, ( I like 50% clay 50% amendments) and grow to your hearts desire. For anyone who doesn't know what I mean by amendments; that means any of these, composted horse manure, composted steer manure, compost you make yourself, garden soil, compost you purchase at the store. Mulch, ( as long as it is not just strait bark. Which is used for decoration or helping to keep moisture in the soil around your landscaped plants.)
By the way when you get your compost home and you open the bag and find white mold growing on the soil. There is nothing wrong with the soil. That is the natural thing soils do to break down to soil. It is beneficial fungi interacting with other parts of the soil, and micro nutrients are necessary for plant growth. Another thing. There is nothing wrong with wood chips, or bark in you compost. When wood breaks down it becomes nitrogen for the plants.
Sandy soil
What is there to say, you need to add a lot of compost to it to get it to hold water.
That is the basics of watering in the desert. If you have questions for your own situations feel free to ask.
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