Lesson 3: Soil : Where it begins
Lesson Objective: the student will have selected a site and made a plant list which feature plants which offer, food and shelter to the butterflies that live in your region.
It all begins with the soil. I like this. It focuses on the importance of soil to a healthy garden. Healthy soil equals healthy plants and healthy plants are what butterflies are seeking.
I think my favourite saying is: It all begins with you. This places the responsibility right where it belongs on the individual, on you, me and all our neighbours.
Each day we make choices: what to eat, where to shop, how to treat others. It is the nature of the choices we make that determines the world we live in.
Now let’s turn out attention back to the garden and see how our choices make a difference. How much do you know about the creatures that inhabit the soil where your garden grows?
The soil food web is a complex structure where millions of life forms live and die each minute. It is their existence that creates the healthy garden. So how well you treat them directly decides how well your garden grows. Feed them only good, organic stuff and your garden thrives. Feed them synthetics and your garden struggles to produce a small amount, or you work hard, maximum labour and minimum gain.
When you begin to use synthetic chemicals, you enter into a vicious cycle; if you want your garden to produce you must continue to add synthetic inputs. You can avoid this cycle by adding only organic material. Think of it as feeding your garden. To get healthy food you must feed the soil. Add this thought, whatever you feed the soil; you feed all the life forms that, when safe and sound, work together to create a thriving garden. So feed them well and they, in turn, will feed you well. Let's take a closer look at one of the major players in your garden, the earthworm. When you feed the soils, say by adding compost, you encourage earthworms to move in and do their thing. This is a cause for celebration. Earthworms are very desirable tenants. They aerate and feed the soil and help your garden grow. Treat them well and your garden thrives. There are two actions you can take that will go a long way to guarantee that earthworms want to move into your garden. Mulch and compost and make sure to spread the compost around the garden. Worms will come a wriggling and bring their extended families along with them. If you avoid chemical inputs you are guaranteed that worms and their offspring will stay and work with the other underground denizens of your garden to create a soil that will give you the very best food and flowers.
Recommended reading: Sara Stein's Noah's Garden
I was very fortunate that I came across Stein's insightful book in a discount bin in our local supermarket. Borrow it from your local library if you can't buy a copy. It is worth the time.
Water
How Much Water?
The more you know the site, where you are planning to install your garden, the better the plan. Knowledge, for example, about how much water your site receives, and the requirements of your garden are helpful. Water catchment techniques, such as rain barrels and mulching, can reduce your work and cost.
Overwatering and underwatering will both cause the plants and you trouble. You will lose some of them and stress out the others. Although watering too much can be as big a problem as watering too little, most gardeners err on the side of too little.
If you are just beginning to garden and want to know how much water your garden requires, you could start with the 1-inch-per-week guideline. But remember, you'll need to learn to adjust this based on the needs of your plants. These needs will vary through the year depending on the rate of evapotranspiration (ET) in your garden.
Evapotranspiration refers to the two ways that plants lose water. One way is through evaporation, the natural loss of water to the air from soil, water, and other surfaces. The other way is through transpiration—water lost by the plant itself, primarily from leaves and stems. You can often obtain evapotranspiration rates for local areas from water departments and other agencies.
When you look at an evapotranspiration curve, you see a graphic description of how a plant's natural need for water changes during the growing season.
Common-sense watering tips
If terms like evapotranspiration put you off, and calculating gallon-per-minute and efficiency rates isn't your idea of the way to relax on a weekend, be patient. With experience, watering becomes instinctive. Your plants and soil will tell you it's time to water, and you'll water them.
In the meantime, keep these pointers in mind:
Water when it's needed, not according to the calendar. Use a shovel or trowel to check the top 3–6 inches of the soil. If the soil is dry and falls apart easily in your hand, water. Your plants will also show signs that they need water. Wilting or curling leaves—or brown leaves on the lower third of the plant—are signs that your plants may lack adequate water. Keep in mind, though, that too much water creates a lack of oxygen for plants, causing them to show many of the same symptoms.
Water slowly. Never water more than about 1/2 inch of water per hour, or too much water will be lost to runoff. This is why handheld watering cans or handheld hoses generally work only for watering small areas: to water a larger area properly, you'd be standing there a long, long time.
Here are infiltration rates for selected soils:
* Light, sandy soils: 1/2–3/4 inch per hour. * Medium-textured clay or loam: 1/4–1/2 inch per hour. * Heavy-textured clay: 1/10–1/4 inch per hour.
