Stories related to soilA single teaspoon of rich garden soil can hold up to one billion bacteria, several yards of fungal filaments, several thousand protozoa, and scores of nematodes, according to Kathy Merrifield, nematologist at Oregon State University. Each has a role in the secret life of soil. How to choose and care for a potted tree to help it thrive for years. Put stalks and stems left after harvest, sod, hay, straw and grass clippings to good use. Gather them in a pile, add vegetable scraps from the kitchen, and you're on your way to making compost that can become fertilizer, soil conditioner and excellent mulch. Understanding grape growth and planting the right variety are needed to make sure vines produce high-quality fruit, according to illustrated OSU Extension publications "Growing Grapes in Your Home Garden," EC 1305, and "Grape Cultivars for Home Gardens," EC 1309. It’s a good time to remember that gardens need organic matter replenished every year. Growing cover crops is an inexpensive way to let nature do the work. Often called green manure, cover crops are an effective way to build garden soil during the fall and winter. Tilling the garden helps to mix organic matter into garden soil and control weeds that compete for moisture and nutrients. But frequent tilling may do more harm than good, according to the Oregon State University Extension publication "Growing Your Own." Vegetable gardens in Oregon require regular watering in the summer because of extremely low rainfall during that season. When planning your garden, consider how you will meet the water needs of the plants. Adding organic matter is the best way to improve nearly all kinds of soils. Choosing a garden site is as important as selecting the vegetables to grow in it. Traditional gardens and lawns are losing favor to those that use less water, fertilizer and pesticides and have minimal impact on the environment. A key to creating a sustainable landscape is to include plants that are either native to the area or well adapted to similar growing conditions. Based on observation and simple tests done in the garden, OSU Extension’s Willamette Valley Soil Quality Card can help home gardeners conduct their own soil analysis beyond what is revealed by traditional soil nutrient tests. Wood ashes can be used to fertilize the lawn and garden, with a few precautions. Because wood ash is derived from plant material, it contains most of the 13 essential nutrients for plant growth, according to Dan Sullivan, OSU Extension soil scientist. If you are considering growing blueberries at home, it's a good idea to begin preparing your site and soil well in advance. Your current investment in time and continuing care will allow these delicious, deep-blue berries to produce for as long as 50 years. Hints for troubleshooting carrots, cabbage and tomatoes in the home garden from Oregon State University vegetable expert. Spacing, soil type, fertility, pests, crop rotation, watering, excess heat and disease are usual suspects. Web links to OSU’s Online Guide to Plant Disease Control and info about OSU Master Gardener help desks provided. Coffee grounds can be an excellent addition a compost pile. The grounds are relatively rich in nitrogen, providing bacteria the energy they need to turn organic matter into compost. Oregon State University Extension compost volunteer specialists have been composting community coffee shop grounds and conducting research on using grounds as a soil or compost amendment. Suggestions for using composted grounds in the yard and garden. Plant cucumbers in the late spring, when the soil warms up to about 70 degrees.
To speed up the soil warming process, use season extenders such as row covers (e.g. Remay), cloches, plastic sheeting, or cold frames. Cucumbers are members of the same family as squash, pumpkins, muskmelons and gourds. Planting and growing instructions and OSU-recommended varieties are given. Online link to more OSU information and toll free number for ordering printed copies of more info.
Soil solarization is the simple process of putting transparent plastic sheeting over moist tilled soil during the warmest and sunniest months of the year. The clear plastic traps the heat of the sun, causing physical, chemical and biological changes to occur in the soil. Oregon State University crop scientist Dan McGrath explains about how it works, research results and how home gardeners can do their own solarization at home.
Buckwheat is a fast-growing, warm-season, succulent, broad-leafed annual plant that makes a good summer cover crop in Oregon in home gardens. It can smother out weeds, protect the soil surface and provide habitat for pollinating and other beneficial insects. How to plant and grow and how to care for it. OSU publication on cover crops FS 304 downloading and ordering information included. Planting broadleaf spinach is easiest in the cooler spring and fall because in the summer, some spinach varieties flower or “bolt.” They stop growing leaves and set seed. OSU Vegetable Farm researchers found a variety of spinach to tolerate summer’s long days and heat without bolting—Correnta. Other heat-tolerant green leafy spinach-like greens that aren’t related to spinach, but look and taste somewhat like spinach and can be used like spinach in the kitchen are discussed, including: New Zealand spinach, amaranth greens and orach. Mixing up your own seed starting mix is more economical than buying sterile potting mix at a garden store. Recipe and hints for seed starting from Oregon State University Extension Service. Autumn is a great time to mulch around your ornamental shrubs, fruiting trees and vines and perennial flowers. How and what to mulch with. Moisture is naturally stored in the soil in pore spaces. To make the most of this water, it helps to understand how it moves through the soil. OSU soil scientist explains about movement and evaporation of moisture in the soil and how to best conserve it. The concept of dry farming is discussed. Mulches keep weeds down, improve soil structure and make your garden more attractive. Another big plus for using mulch is that it prevents water loss and conserves the amount of water you will have to use in the summer. Different kinds of mulch and how they work, including wood chips, compost, sawdust, straw, gravel, woven plastic sheets, geotextiles, landscape cloth. Article gives temperatures at which different types of vegetable seeds germinate in order to plan the year’s vegetable garden. It also provides other hints for vegetable growing success from Oregon State University vegetable researcher. Typical backyard soil is too compacted and full of weed seeds. Native soil may not drain as well as potting mixes, and it can develop a crust that prevents seedlings from pushing though the surface. And it is not pasteurized, which can cause diseases in seedlings. Here is a recipe from the Oregon State University Extension Service for a good basic pasteurized soil for starting seedlings. Many problems in home gardens stem from poor soil quality, including lack of organic matter. OSU Extension Service horticulturist Neil Bell discusses symptoms, techniques for assessment and suggestions for improving poor soil. "Testing your soil in winter will help let you know what nutrients your soil needs, so you will be able to plan your fertilizer program before the planting season begins later in the spring" said John Hart, an Oregon State University Extension soil science specialist. Compost will decompose whether you have a fancy bin, container, or just a pile on the ground. OSU Extension soil scientists explain how to compost yard and garden debris in a simple manner. How to access OSU Extension publication, “Improving Garden Soils with Organic Matter,” (EC 1561), offered on line or in printed form. Annual cover crops, planted in the late summer and early fall, grow and capture and recycle nutrients that would otherwise be lost by leaching during the winter and early spring. They also protect the surface of the soil from the ravages of winter. They help the soil absorb water more readily and they suppress weeds, may supply nitrogen and increase organic matter in your garden soil as well. August is time to start planting cover crops in your home garden. OSU Extension publications about cover crops include FS 304, EM 8704. Ordering info. provided. It is a myth that lawns and gardens in sandy soil need more water than those in silt or clay, explained Don Horneck, agronomist at OSU’s Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center. So why the myth? The difference is not how much the lawn or garden uses water but how much and how often it needs to be applied in coarse versus fine soils. Damping-off disease, caused by fungi, frequently attack young seedlings or the seeds of almost any kind of vegetable. These fungi are most likely present in any garden soil.
Just after seedlings emerge from the soil, seedlings are quite vulnerable to attack by fungal organisms, usually at or just above the soil line. The infected stem portion becomes discolored, begins to shrink, then the seedling topples over.
Newly planted seeds also may become infected with damping-off organisms. The seeds become soft and mushy, turn a brown to black color and eventually disintegrate. This condition is known as seed rot. OSU Extension plant pathologist Cynthia Ocamb explains how to prevent the disease. Link to OSU Extension-recommended treatment protocols.
There’s no legal definition of “topsoil.” You could be getting just about anything, warns John Hart, soil scientist with the Oregon State University Extension Service. Topsoil is just surface soil. It isn’t always good material for home gardens. An easy technique for analyzing physical properties of topsoil is provided. How much to buy. Whether you choose 4 to 6 inches of shredded bark, well-rotted sawdust, last fall's leaves, yard debris, compost or thoroughly dry grass clippings, an organic mulch will help keep weeds down, insulate the soil from excess summer heat and hold moisture in. Will prolonged saturated soils hurt your landscape plants? According to Oregon State University Extension soil scientist Herb Huddleston, it all depends on how deeply rooted the plants are, how sensitive they are to temporary saturation, and how long the soil in the root zone stays soggy. How to care for African violets. Fall rains bring mushrooms to lawns and gardens. Mushrooms are the reproductive structures of fungi. Mushrooms in your lawn may indicate that your soil is healthy and a good place for trees and other plants to grow, explains Susie Dunham, post-doctoral research mycologist in the Oregon State University Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. Myccorhizal biology explained. Are root weevils notching the leaves of your woody ornamentals? Help your shrubs by applying insect-killing, “beneficial nematodes,” available for purchase at your local nursery. Life cycle of the root weevil. If you have either indoor or outdoor container plants, be on the look out for salt build up on the soil surface or pot. Whitish-colored deposits, composed of salts built up from hard water and fertilizer, usually indicate insufficient drainage or not enough flow-through of water. Methods for enhancing drainage and preventing salt build up in potted plants. Snap beans you buy in the supermarket cannot compare to the crisp, fresh and flavorful beans you can grow yourself at home. When seed companies and plants people say “snap” beans, most usually are referring to all types of fresh garden beans—wax, green, and French or Roma types. Whether they grow on vines or shorter bushy plants, snap beans germinate best in soil at least 60 degrees, from about late April through June. Here’s some pointers and variety recommendations for Oregon from OSU vegetable growing experts, Jim Myers and Deborah Kean. Soil pH can make a big difference to the plants in your garden. In order to understand how, you have to think like a plant. pH measures the concentration of hydrogen ions in soil solution. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 14, where values below 7 indicate acidic soil, and those above 7 indicate basic or alkaline soil. Each unit change is a 10-fold difference in the concentration of hydrogen. More than 200 varieties of flowering viney clematis are available for Oregon gardeners. Deciduous clematis are hardy in all Oregon climates. Evergreen varieties are more sensitive to the cold and perform best in western valleys and the coast. All need a little special handling at the start, but once established they will grow and flower year after year. Clematis have three main requirements – sunlight on their stems and leaves; cool, moist soil at their roots; and support for climbing. February is prime time to select and plan for planting this year's “cool season” vegetables and to find or purchase a soil thermometer. Soil temperature is the best indicator of when to plant each type of vegetable, no matter what climate zone you live in. How to take an accurate soil temperature. OSU Extension Service vegetable researcher Deborah Kean gives advice on what vegetables to plant when the soil temperature reaches 40, 50, 60 and 70 degrees F. Those irritating little insects that fly out of the soil when you water your potted indoor plants are probably fungus gnats. Tiny, non-biting flies, fungus gnats feed and breed in the soil of house and greenhouse plants such as cyclamens, poinsettias, salvia, geraniums and ornamental peppers. Basic biology and non-toxic controls recommended by OSU entomologist. The second season of “Smart Gardening,” a half-hour weekly television series, has begun, broadcast each Saturday at 10:30 a.m. on Oregon Public Broadcasting and other public television stations around the country. The series evolved with the support and expertise of the Oregon State University Extension Service and is now a co-production of OSU, Chambers Productions in Eugene and OPB in Portland. This magazine-style series takes viewers to gardens, homes and parks in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, California, the Midwest and New England. This year’s host is Deanna Connell, an alumnus of OSU. OSU Extension horticulturist offers tree list of tough urban trees—those that tolerate soil compaction, air pollution, heat deflected from pavement and root disturbance. Access to related publications offered. Like spinning straw into gold, composting can create excellent mulch, fertilizer and soil conditioner from the humblest of ingredients. Compost can be hot or cold. Hot composting is quicker and more thorough. Hot composting speeds up the decay process by favoring the growth of heat-loving microorganisms.
The key to composting is to supply a balance of air, water, energy materials, and bulking agents. Energy materials are typically green and soft. They are a nutritious, easy-to-digest meal for microorganisms. Examples include grass clippings or flower and vegetable trimmings.
Compost pile bulking agents are typically rigid, woody materials that are low in readily decomposable carbohydrates. The low-carb bulking agents add air space to the pile. Examples include wood chips or corn stalks. Autumn can be a good time to make a raised bed for spring planting, as there are plenty of materials at hand this time of year to fill or make a new garden bed. A combination of compost, fallen leaves, crop residues such as mint hay compost, straw, manures, chipped pruning materials can be put in a bed to break down over the winter. The OSU Extension Service offers several publications related to raised bed gardening, composting, garden bed design and improving soils with organic matter for no charge on the WWW. Some are also in Spanish. Go to: http://eesc.orst.edu. Click on "Publications and Videos," then "Gardening" then "Techniques." Many problems in home gardens stem from poor soil quality, including lack of organic matter. OSU Extension experts discuss symptoms, assessment techniques and suggestions for improving poor soil. Mint compost, the spent hay left after the mint oil has been extracted, is a rich source of organic matter that savvy gardeners use to enrich their soil. But gardeners may have concerns about the fungus Verticillium dahliae that often infects peppermint. Can the compost be a vehicle for introducing this disease-causing fungus into your garden? Will your good intentions actually result in adding a dreaded pathogen to the very soil you are trying to improve? “No,” says Melodie Putnam, plant pathologist with the Oregon State University Plant Clinic. “Here’s one bogeyman you can clear out of the closet.” Putnam gives background on Verticillium and mint. Based on observation and simple tests done in the garden, OSU Extension’s Willamette Valley Soil Quality Card can help home gardeners conduct their own soil analysis beyond what is revealed by traditional soil chemistry tests. Do you have ripe strawberries that are turning brown and soft? Or are you finding strawberries that are covered in gray fuzzy mold? Your plants may be suffering from gray mold, also known as Botrytis fruit rot. Symptoms and cultural controls. Buckwheat is a fast-growing, warm-season, succulent, broad-leafed annual plant that makes a good summer cover crop in Oregon. It can smother out weeds, protect the soil surface and provide habitat for pollinating and other beneficial insects. How to plant and grow and how to care for it. Early spring is the perfect time to give your chive patch a new lease on life, especially if they have been neglected over the years. Chives do best if they are dug up, divided, and moved to a new compost-rich site every few years. They prefer a moderately well drained slightly acid soil, rich with organic matter such as compost, manures, decomposed leaves or sawdust. Need a last minute stocking stuffer for the gardener in your life? Give a gift certificate for a soil test from a soil testing service. The Oregon State University Extension Service has a list of soil labs that do tests for home gardeners on line at: http://eesc.oregonstate.edu. Click on “Publications and Videos,” then “Gardening,” and finally, “Techniques.” Scroll down to EM 8677, “A List of Analytical Laboratories Serving Oregon.” Download EC 0628, “Soil Sampling for Home Gardens and Small Acreages,” as well. The most important factor in the care of houseplants is matching up a plant’s needs to its environment. Light source, light intensity, temperature and total room environment are all crucial to houseplants. Care recommendations included. Compost will decompose whether you have a fancy bin, container, or just a pile on the ground. OSU Extension soil scientists explain how to compost yard and garden debris in a simple manner. How to order new OSU Extension publication, “Improving Garden Soils with Organic Matter,” (EC 1561), offered on line and via U.S. mail. Sowbugs and pillbugs inhabit garden soil, dank basements and shady areas of the yard. They feast on decaying plant material and play a role in decomposing organic matter in the garden and compost pile. They also feed on tender seedlings, young roots, flowers and fruits and vegetables laying directly on damp soil. Water or check the soil moisture in container plants at least once every day on hot summer days. Sometimes they'll need water two or even three times per day, if the summer heat is intense. Use a slow, steady stream of water, and don't stop until it seeps out of the holes at the bottom of the pot. Yellowish leaves on non-deciduous shrubs and trees can be an indication there is some sort of problem, especially with rhododendrons, azaleas, huckleberries, heathers and hydrangeas, plants that typically need a less alkaline, more acid environment than most plants. Potential problems and strategies for solutions provided, including adding nitrogen, acidification, adding iron. Publication EC 1560-E available from OSU Extension. Plant cucumbers in the late spring, when the soil warms up to about 70 degrees. To speed up the soil warming process, use season extenders such as row covers (e.g. Remay), cloches, plastic sheeting, or cold frames. Cucumbers are members of the same family as squash, pumpkins, muskmelons and gourds. Planting and growing instructions and OSU-recommended varieties are given. URL and ordering instructions OSU publication on growing cukes, EC 1226 are also provided. Clay soils are one of the biggest challenges to the home gardener. These finely textured clay soils are difficult to work up and develop into a good seedbed. When dry, it tends to be very hard and lumpy. When wet, it tends to be very sticky and difficult to manipulate. Groundcovers are any type of low plant, besides turf grass, that can cover the soil densely. Spring is the best time to plant groundcover plants. Types of groundcovers given for several situations and uses. Commercial mushroom growers in the Willamette Valley grow tons of mushrooms in an elaborate mixture that gardeners love - mushroom compost. Often sold at landscape supply houses, mushroom compost can help amend garden soil, but should be used with caution, according to John Hart, soil scientist with the Oregon State University Extension Service. Commercial mushroom growers in the Willamette Valley grow tons of mushrooms in an elaborate mixture that gardeners love - mushroom compost. Autumn is a time of plenty for home gardeners. Not only are fruits and vegetables plentiful - so are the leftovers of the season. Crop residues such as leaves, nutshells, mint hay and fruit pomace can be used as mulch, to improve soil structure or to help build a great compost pile. Weed seeds can survive in the soil for years before they germinate and grow. You've done everything right, but your vegetable garden still looks wimpy. It may be symphylans in your soil. It is time to start thinking about choosing and buying this year's "cool season" vegetable seeds and plants. Wood ash can be a valuable source of lime, potassium and trace elements for lawns and home gardens. Farmers and home gardeners are finding buckwheat to be a good cover crop or "green manure" during the summer. When you walk about your yard on a wet day, do your shoes stick in the mud? Could you make ceramic pots out of the soil in your garden? Odds are you have clay soil, one of the biggest challenges to the home gardener. It's not too late to plant a few last minute veggies and cover crops. Improve garden soils by planting a winter cover crop in the home garden. A teaspoon of healthy garden soil contains tiny creatures most home gardeners don't know a thing about. But these creatures, visible with the help of a high power microscope, are important indicators of a healthy, productive soil. It may be too early to put seeds in the ground, but itchy gardeners can get ready to grow by mixing up a batch of clean potting soil for starting seeds. This time of year, yellowish leaves on azaleas, rhododendrons and blueberries may indicate a problem. By making a raised garden bed or two in the early spring, home gardeners can plant earlier than planting in unmounded soil. It is time to select and plan for planting this year's "cool season" vegetables. There is a new, easy way to judge the quality of your soil. Based on observation and simple tests done in the garden, the Willamette Valley Soil Quality Card can help home gardeners conduct their own soil analysis beyond what is revealed by traditional soil chemistry tests. Soil pH can make a big difference to the plants in your garden. In order to understand how, you have to think like a plant. The decision whether or not a garden soil should be spaded or rototilled should be based on the moisture content of the soil. The yin and yang of westside gardening are summer drought and winter deluge. The drought-hardy plants that thrived last summer may be knee-deep in water this time of year. Over the past few years, agricultural scientists at Oregon State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Corvallis have been experimenting with a simple, non-chemical means of combating plant diseases and weeds called "soil solarization." During the past few years, agricultural scientists at Oregon State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Corvallis have been experimenting with a simple, non-chemical means of combating plant diseases and weeds called "soil solarization." The temperature of your garden soil is key to successful seed germination in your garden. There may be nothing more exasperating than working hard in the vegetable garden all summer, only to end up with hard green tomatoes, unripe melons, and sweet peppers the size of robins' eggs. Topsoil. It takes millennia to create and it sustains much of life on earth. But there is no legal definition of topsoil and no regulations governing its sale. Underfoot, but not well understood, soil is everywhere Soil is alive. Much more than a prop to hold up your plants, healthy soil is a jungle of voracious creatures eating and pooping and reproducing their way toward glorious soil fertility. The balmy early days of spring tempt gardeners to poke around in their cold, sodden soil. When you buy topsoil, make sure you know what you are buying. Rain, rain and more rain. Will prolonged, saturated soils hurt your landscape plants? Tilling the garden helps to mix organic matter into garden soil and helps control weeds that compete with crops for moisture and nutrients. Cover crops are planted by farmers and home gardeners to enrich soils with organic matter and nitrogen, cycle nutrients, protect soil from water and wind erosion, suppress weeds, insect pests and diseases and reduce nitrate leaching to groundwater. The season of bounty has arrived with baskets full of corn, beans, and tomatoes. Harvest time is here. There's nothing better than fresh, homegrown fruits and vegetables from the garden, right? The balmy early days of spring tempt gardeners to poke around in their cold, sodden soil. But don't get too zealous with the rototiller without checking the water content of your soil. Mycorrhizae could be called the threads of life. More than 90 percent of the world's plant species depend on these underground filaments to supply water and minerals essential for growth. If you have either indoor or outdoor container plants, be on the lookout for salt build up on the soil surface or pot. Choosing a garden site is one of the most important decisions any gardener will make. The ideal location for a vegetable garden is a level, well-drained site, with full sunlight most of the day good air circulation and loose, dark-colored and fertile soil. Containerized trees can grace patio or porch, even if you don’t have a garden. Learn how to choose and care for a potted tree to help it thrive for years. Annual cover crops, planted in the late summer and early fall, grow and capture and recycle nutrients that would otherwise be lost by leaching during the winter and early spring. They also protect the surface of the soil from the ravages of winter. They help the soil absorb water more readily and. they suppress weeds, may supply nitrogen and increase organic matter in your garden soil as well. August is time to start planting cover crops in your home garden.
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