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5 Reasons Fireplace Owners Think Early Spring is "Firewood Time"
As the weather hints of warmth and the spring buds appear on trees, firewood may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But early spring is the ideal time to buy or gather your firewood for your fireplace or woodstove. Why? Here are 5 good...
Asthma Friendly Gardens
Asthma Friendly Gardens Tom Ogren Recent studies have shown that babies born to mothers who were exposed to high levels of pollen in their last trimester of pregnancy have a much greater chance of developing asthma. One of the main keys with...
Easy Fall Propagation Techniques
You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link, ...
Freestanding And Lean-to Greenhouses
Whether a greenhouse is freestanding or attached (lean-to greenhouse) it is one of the most popular types of garden buildings in use today. It is a self-contained structure in back garden or yard, which helps you grow what you want - flowers,...
Layer Your Plantings
Part three in a series In our last article, we helped you layout your new landscape. In this article we’ll explore which plants to put where and what makes an effective landscape. If you think of your landscape as a stage, you can easily imagine...
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Keeping Soil Healthy
Soil is a composition of weather-beaten rock, minerals, decayed
plant materials and other organic ingredients. All this takes a
long time to develop, but can be damaged by our action or
neglect in a single season.
Plants can obtain nutrients from the soil using their roots and
change them to usable materials to grow new roots, leaves and
flowers.
All gardeners are to be custodians of the soil, taking the time
to replace food and other elements as they are used. We need to
treat it like we want to be treated, not like dirt.
Healthy soil should contain a mix of air, water, nutrients and
organic matter. We can protect this mixture by:
Adding organic matter on a regular basis is probably one of the
most important things we can do. Adding compost, cover crops and
animal manure can do many things:
+ increases the soil's capability to hold nutrients. + makes
food available to plants over a longer period of time. + lessen
the amount of nutrients lost by erosion or leaching. + provides
micro-nutrients that are needed by plants in small amounts. +
release nutrients already in the soil by increasing the action
of beneficial microorganisms. + increases the water-holding
capacity for sandy soils. + increase the drainage of clay soils.
+ saves money.
Do not apply fertilizer to lawns until we get a good soaking
rain, and for the best, safest, long-lasting results use organic
fertilizers. The wet soil puts the nutrients into a solution and
helps distribute the nutrients to the plant roots to be absorbed.
The ability of soil to drain water is important. But when you
read phrases like "plant in a well-drained soil" or "does not
like wet feet", they are talking about the plant's need for air.
The roots of plants require oxygen and any soil that is
waterlogged will be lacking oxygen.
Many plants will put up with high moisture-conditions during
the
growing season, but when the plants are dormant the same
conditions may kill them. By improving the drainage the plant
will have a better growing environment.
Another problem is soil becoming compacted by tractors and other
equipment or just by tilling it year after year. You will find
soil compaction in most soils, from gardens to farm fields.
Tilling the soil when it is too wet will clump and ruin the
composition of the soil. This condition takes a long period of
time to bring it back to health. To tell if the soil is too wet
take a handful and squeeze it, if it crumbles in your hand then
it is ready to till but if it clumps then it is too wet. Some
people now believe that tilling at all is not good for the
structure of the soil. It exposes the helpful microorganisms to
the environment and they are destroyed.
Gardeners may wonder if it is best to till the garden in the
fall or spring. Tilling the soil in the fall has advantages over
springtime. When spring arrives it allows for earlier planting
since the basic soil preparation is done. Tilling in the fall
allows a large amount of organic matter to be turned into the
soil and start decomposing because the microbes are active
currently.
An excellent source of organic matter is the fall leaves. Try
tilling a thick layer of leaves into the soil this fall and by
spring it will have decomposed.
Fall is a good time to test your soil and should be done every
couple of years. In conclusion, doing all the previous steps
should be done the organic gardening way. It's back to basic.
About the author:
Join Sintilia Miecevole, host of http://www.budsgardening.com
for a great resource site all about gardening. Enjoy everything
from news, tips, design, advice and landscaping to seeds, soil,
flowers, water gardens, perennials and organic gardening. Be
sure to visit http://www.budsgardening.com and enjoy!
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| Landscaping Ideas | Landscape Design | Landscaping Pictures |
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| Landscaping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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| EERE Consumer's Guide: Landscaping |
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| Planning the Home Landscape |
| Advice and tips for planning, preparing, and constructing a new landscape area. |
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| A key source of Great Lakes environmental information. |
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| Landscaping - Outdoors - homesite.com.au |
| Landscaping - homesite.com.au, Australia’s No.1 home and garden web site. |
| www.homesite.com.au |
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| H2ouse.org : Tour : Landscaping |
| Attractive gardens and landscape add to the value of your home and bring ... Upgrade the look of your landscape by learning the how-to's of proper lawn care ... |
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| Landscapers | Landscaping |
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| Landscaping for Energy Efficiency |
| Are you looking for cost-effective yet eye-pleasing ways to lower your energy bills? Planting trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, and hedges could be the answer. |
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| Edible Landscaping Online |
| Only the most productive disease resistant varieties make it onto the approved list here at Edible Landscaping. Our plants are guaranteed to arrive healthy ... |
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| Free Landscaping Ideas, Landscapes, Front Yard, Garden Landscaping |
| Landscaping ideas that transform your boring, unattractive yard into the picture perfect oasis you've always dreamed of. Find out h... |
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