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WHAT
BY
“You will have the same problem, in the
same place, in your yard next year unless you change your cultural
practices.” A garden center
manager said this to a listener on a “call in” garden program about a
disease problem in her bluegrass lawn. This admonition really stuck with
me!!! This warning also applies to black spot in a rose garden, powdery
mildew on a lilac bush, blight on your tomatoes, and other diseases in
your vegetable and flower garden. If you are having problems, make sure
you are not making the problem worse because of poor cultural practices.
Too often when
we have a problem we reach for the sprayer and some kind of a chemical,
or a bag of fungus control or insecticide. Usually this only masks the
problem and is not a cure. Or we even think maybe we need to fertilize
to eliminate the problem. Before you do anything to correct the problem,
make sure you have an accurate diagnosis so you know what you are
dealing with, and learn about your plant so you know what the plant
likes and doesn’t like. And then think about your “cultural
practices” and see if you need to change any of them.
Most of us probably are not sure what
that includes. Good cultural practices include:
·
Correct
soil problems and avoid soil compaction
·
Water only
as needed
·
Timely and
correct application of mulch
·
Fertilize
only as needed
·
Prune
trees and shrubs correctly
·
Mow
correctly
·
Correct
application of pesticides. Right pesticide, on the right plant, at the
right time.
·
Rotate
plants where needed
For new
plantings:
·
Soil
preparation
·
Select a
favorable planting site
·
Plant and
cultivar selection (Right plant in the right
place)
·
Plant
correct time of year and at correct depth
·
Plant
spacing
As you can see there are a number of
things you need to think about. If you had a problem this past year, or
in the past years, in your lawn or garden, as the garden center manager
said, “You will have the same problem, in the same place next year
unless you change your cultural practices”.
There are too many topics to cover in one
issue so I will cover these topics over the next few weeks. If you know
of other cultural practices that need to be covered, please contact the
editor who will pass them on to me.
1.
Correct soil problems
Soil compaction is usually caused by
traffic over the area. This can be by big trucks at the time of
construction, by kids playing on the lawn, or by walking in the garden
or lawn. Compaction happens by the riding mower or your push mower going
over the same route every time. Soil compacts faster when the ground is
wet. Running a tiller at the same depth every time you till, also can
compact the soil at the depth of the tines and create what we call a
“hard pan”. When soil is compacted, water has a very hard time going
into the soil and usually just runs off. With a hard pan the water just
collects above the hard pan and acts like a bowl, and your plants drown.
Also plant roots have a very difficult time growing in compacted soil.
Root crops such as carrots and beets are very stunted when grown in
compacted soil or past the “hard pan”. When I first started gardening at
our house we planted carrots for the kids but they did not grow very
well and were stunted. My wife grows very nice beets and long, straight
carrots now that the soil is loose after years of adding compost.
Soil compaction can be corrected by
breaking up the soil and by the incorporation of organic material into
the soil. In my vegetable garden I have 11 compost piles. I fill a bin
with a bag of leaves picked up with a lawn mower, moisten the leaves,
and then add used coffee grounds to cover the top. Then I add another
bag of leaves, more water and more coffee grounds. The coffee grounds
have nitrogen that heats up the mixture. (If you don’t have access to
used coffee grounds from a coffee shop, two or three handfuls of high
nitrogen lawn fertilizer works fine.) The mixture hopefully will get up
to at least 140 degrees F. I let it cook and then wait until the mixture
cools down to 100 degrees F. I then turn the mixture to add air and wait
for it to heat up again. In the fall I spread the finished compost on my
garden and till it in. Some I use to cover my Rhubarb and some to cover
the Asparagus.
Hard clay soil in the lawn can best be
corrected by core aerating twice a year. Application of fine, dry
compost or a soil amendment such as Structure or Profile before aerating
and allowing the aerator to push the compost into the soil really helps. Copyright 2013 |