Gardening: Compost can improve the health of the soil in your garden
Looking after your soil’s health is the most important task a gardener can have.
Your soil is what feeds and waters your plants. Winter is a good time to start planning ways to improve your soil.
Determining your soil type in your garden is a good first step. Our region has a wide variety of soil types that makes planning a soil improvement project individualized. Every garden is different.
Soil type has a major influence on the soil’s ability to hold moisture and nutrients. Sandy soil with its large grains drains away water and nutrients quickly while finer grained silts and clays hold onto water and nutrients longer.
A simple way to determine your soil type is to mix a cup of soil in water in a quart jar. Cap the jar and shake the contents thoroughly and set the jar aside for a couple of days. The soil will separate into its three major components with sand, the heaviest particle, on the bottom of the jar, followed by a layer of silt and then clay, the lightest soil particle. If you have more sand than silt or clay, then your soil is sandy. If either of the other two layers are predominant then you have either silty or clayey soil. If you have an even mix of the three, you just won the soil lottery and have a nice balanced loam.
Regardless of your soil type, improving soil health means increasing its ability to hold water and nutrients and provide space for soil bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, earthworms, nematodes and protozoa to work. The microorganisms break down organic material and release nutrients to the plants over time.
The easiest way to do this is to add compost to your beds and work it into the top few inches of the soil. Compost acts like a sponge that provides decaying organic material to the billions of soil organisms that jump -start nutrient production and tiny spaces that retain water.
The best time to add compost is in the early spring or late fall when the beds are free of vegetation. Work 2 to 3 inches of compost into the top few inches of the soil around plants in existing beds. Repeat the process every couple of years. You can also simply top-dress your beds and let nature work the compost in over time.
If you are building new raised beds, the soil mix should be heavy on compost. When I order soil from a commercial supplier, I ask them to mix alternating scoops of whatever they call their garden blend and straight compost into the truck.
This not only adds more compost, it starts the mixing process that is finished when the truck dumps its load.
Last, always mulch your soil with organic matter to protect it from erosion and drying temperatures. Nature never leaves bare soil. Beds can be mulched with bark, wood chips, shredded pine needles and leaves or half-finished compost if you make your own.
Pat Munts can be reached at pat@inlandnwgardening.com.