I've Got the Dirt

I'm not even sure how it happened, but I became obsessed with our dirt. Somewhere I read about testing soil, and adding amendments and alkaline and acidic and nitrogen and peat moss and compost, manure, mulch, organic matter, lime, blah blah blah.....

So, I tested our soil with a cute little kit. Found out our soil was alkaline. No doubt about it. And, further evidence of hard mud clots and clay like mud reassured me of that. Alkaline soil has pros and cons, but mostly cons and it can be hard to get stuff to grow because the soil doesn't let roots expand and take in the nutrients it needs. 

Then, I had to decide how I was going to improve or "amend" it. Man, everyone has their own opinion. Almost everyone agrees that you need organic matter, like compost. Well, we left behind a beautiful but never used compost pile in La Grande. We've started one here, but obviously it hadn't "composted" yet. 

Anyway, here's what I did to try and improve our soil. 

1.) I used peat moss. Why? According to peatmoss.com, 

"Canadian sphagnum peat moss is a natural, organic soil conditioner that regulates moisture and air around plant roots for ideal growing conditions. It will help to:
 Save Water.
• Peat retains up to 20 times its weight in moisture, and releases water slowly as plants need it.
 Aerate Heavy, Clay Soil.
• Peat moss allows for proper root growth by loosening and aerating soils.
 Reduce Leaching.
• Peat moss reduces leaching of nutrients in or added to the soil, releasing them over time. This will save on fertilizer.
 Protect Soil.
• Peat moss protects soil from hardening and adds organic material."

2.) I used composted chicken manure. Chicken manure is very high in nitrogen and also contains a good amount of potassium and phosphorus. The high nitrogen and balanced nutrients is the reason that chicken manure compost is one of the best kinds of manure to use. But, it's very "hot" and thus has to sit and compost for a while before it won't burn your plants. 

3.) I used a soil conditioner that consisted of fine bark mulch. It loosens soil, helping with aeration and the penetration of water and nutrients. It also adds nutrients, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous, iron, magnesium and other minerals to the soil. Plus it's an organic matter which encourages good things like worms! 

4.) Blood meal. Yum! Blood meal is dried animal blood, usually that of a cow, though the kind I used was porcine (pig) blood meal. Blood meal adds nitrogen and acid to soil. 

5.) To top it off, I threw on some top soil. 

Topsoil is just what the name implies: It is soil removed from the surface of the earth. Topsoil has organic matter in it from whatever grasses, leaves or bark that have decomposed on it.

 

And then I crossed my fingers, said some prayers and let it sit for a while. 

A couple weeks ago I transplanted pea starts the neighbors gave us and planted radishes and carrots. I hoped stuff would grow in there, but I was nervous. I'm a beginner, what do I know? Weeds weren't even growing in the garden space, so I was worried. 

While I was out of town this weekend, the husbando called and told me my radishes had sprouted! Yay! And as of today, I have several tiny carrot sprouts. And yes, little weeds have started growing, too. I hope this is a sign of good things to come! 

This week, I've begun transplanting many of our plants and reclaiming our dining room table. So I thought I'd show you some pictures of the progress. 

Here are our tomatoes. On the left we have Gold Nugget yellow cherry tomato plants and
on the right we have Fantastic red tomato plants. 

Our onions. Again our neighbors gave us some Idaho bulbs, those are on the left, and then
we have Japanese Summer Isle onions on the right. We will use them all as green onions. 

Radishes. 

The peas haven't passed away yet, so that's good. 

One of four Broccoli Saabe that I transplanted this week. 

Tom Thumb Butterhead lettuce starts that I transplanted. 

Three raider cucumber plants and two boston pickling
cucumber plants ready to move up the trellis. 

I forgot to mention, that with the arrival of my chickens arrived the desire to grow herbs to feed them and to put in their nesting boxes. 

Parsley, peppermint and spearmint. 

Lemon Thyme, lavender and more parsley. 

The trellis, lettuce underneath, herbs in back. 

Marigolds that I'm growing. They are edible and also deer deterrents. 

Ella and I planted some seeds way back with my Activity Day girls.
From those seeds I have five flowering plants, the first of which bloomed today! 

Here are some more herbs that I started from seed. That's chamomile, catnip, lavender, and cilantro. Not pictured is the greek oregano that I also started from seed. I got a little impatient and doubted myself, so I ended up buying chamomile, lavender and catnip plants while waiting for the seeds to come up. I thought surely I had ruined the seeds some how and they wouldn't grow....well, they did. So I guess I've got extras of the chamomile, catnip and lavender.
I also have basil and sage plants that I forgot to mention. Whew!