Turning Soil
Episode #14 14/07/07
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
There are a lot of us living with a false sense of security that we are getting enough winter rainfall and therefore the garden is going to be okay. After a long hot dry summer the soil surface is not quite as wet as you would like to think. In fact there are lots of dry pockets of soil underneath the surface in gardens across the country. This will manifest itself in the summertime when plants start to fall down.
The soil surface is where all the feeder roots go through and they are the most important roots a plant can have. If they are not healthy and dried out that is when you will start to have real problems in the garden.
One thing you can do is cultivate the soil. You do not need to scratch deeply just breaking the soils surface is ideal. In heavy soils add some gypsum, this will make the soil crumbly and allows air to the roots. It also kills weeds, which means one less job to worry about this spring.
This time of year is a perfect time to start applying wetting agents and one of the best areas to apply is underneath the canopy of the plants. In summer sprinklers will throw water underneath the plant and the plants roots will tale up that water really easily but during winter the rainfall comes down and gets caught in the canopy and you don’t get penetration underneath. This causes the roots underneath to stress so by throwing a wetting agent such as Yates Waterwise Granular Soil Wetter and Plant Food will find that what water does get through will penetrate through the soil much easier.
Adding organic matter into the garden at this time of year is a really important thing to do and one of the best organic mediums are animal manures. One of Trevor’s favourites is cow manure as it releases nutrients nice and slowly into the soil. If you are in sandy or acidic soils try adding some chicken manure as it is a really good way to neutralize it. If you are looking for a thick mulch then you can’t go past chicken manure. For sandy soils build up the organic matter by adding straw and a nice thick layer of chicken manure over the top, this will breakdown and dramatically improve the fertility of the soil.
The key to having a beautiful garden this spring and summer is making sure you do all your work on your soil now. If you enrich it with organic matter, nutrients and making sure the water is getting in the soil will be healthy your plants will look fantastic.
Featured Products
Yates Waterwise Granular Soil Wetter and Plant Food
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
There are a lot of us living with a false sense of security that we are getting enough winter rainfall and therefore the garden is going to be okay. After a long hot dry summer the soil surface is not quite as wet as you would like to think. In fact there are lots of dry pockets of soil underneath the surface in gardens across the country. This will manifest itself in the summertime when plants start to fall down.
The soil surface is where all the feeder roots go through and they are the most important roots a plant can have. If they are not healthy and dried out that is when you will start to have real problems in the garden.
One thing you can do is cultivate the soil. You do not need to scratch deeply just breaking the soils surface is ideal. In heavy soils add some gypsum, this will make the soil crumbly and allows air to the roots. It also kills weeds, which means one less job to worry about this spring.
This time of year is a perfect time to start applying wetting agents and one of the best areas to apply is underneath the canopy of the plants. In summer sprinklers will throw water underneath the plant and the plants roots will tale up that water really easily but during winter the rainfall comes down and gets caught in the canopy and you don’t get penetration underneath. This causes the roots underneath to stress so by throwing a wetting agent such as Yates Waterwise Granular Soil Wetter and Plant Food will find that what water does get through will penetrate through the soil much easier.
Adding organic matter into the garden at this time of year is a really important thing to do and one of the best organic mediums are animal manures. One of Trevor’s favourites is cow manure as it releases nutrients nice and slowly into the soil. If you are in sandy or acidic soils try adding some chicken manure as it is a really good way to neutralize it. If you are looking for a thick mulch then you can’t go past chicken manure. For sandy soils build up the organic matter by adding straw and a nice thick layer of chicken manure over the top, this will breakdown and dramatically improve the fertility of the soil.
The key to having a beautiful garden this spring and summer is making sure you do all your work on your soil now. If you enrich it with organic matter, nutrients and making sure the water is getting in the soil will be healthy your plants will look fantastic.
Featured Products
Yates Waterwise Granular Soil Wetter and Plant Food
- Contains coir peat, wetting agent, Dynamic Lifter Organic plant food, Gypsum Clay Breaker, trace elements and seaweed.
- Contains a fast acting wetting agent that improves moisture penetration of water repellent soils.
- Added trace elements, ironand potassium for healthier, greener lawns.
- Contains Dynamic Lifter Organic plant food and seaweed for added organic vitality.
- Organic ingredients encourage micro-organisms and earthworms.
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