Clay Soil and Pine Mulch

Plants and soil types are like the 3 bears and bed types in the "Goldilocks" story. There is no one prefect soil that every plants likes.

Here in the chilly zone 4a region of Wisconsin we have a difficult soil for most traditional plants. It is clay, compact, wet, and highly alkaline. On the plus side clay has tons of nutrients and holds water well. What can you do to improve your garden to be more acceptable to other non clay/alkaline loving plants?

Added lots pine mulch!

Pine mulch is acidic (epically the pine needles). Normally most advice is to neutralize this acidity by adding a alkaline product to the mulch (common one is lime stone powder). But why add alkaline if acidity is what you really want. The acidity in the mulch will eventually balance out the soil, creating soil layers with a range of acidic to alkaline the deeper the soil level gets. This means each plant will send roots the soil level of acidic/alkaline it likes and then start growing! Mulch is great at keeping just the right water level so your plants don't dry out or don't water rot. While mulch also helps prevents weeds, since the mulch is acidic that helps stop those pesky weeds. Eventually the much will break down and help with the compaction of the soil. (Warning: mulch in the first year will absorb nitrogen, but will release it as it breaks down in the 2nd year)



Resources:
http://www.we-energies.com/forestry/woodchips.htm

https://uwlab.soils.wisc.edu/pubs/lowering_ph.pdf

http://wood.uwex.edu/2010/11/18/pine-needles-cause/

Winter Farmers Market

The official end of the Wisconsin winter might have been last weekend?


While we might still have some cold days here in Milwaukee, this year's "Milwaukee County Winter Farmers' Market" ended on Saturday April 14th 2012. This farmers market runs from Nov 5th - April 14th, every Saturday from 8am-Noon. It's indoors, which is great for snowy days. When I went on April 14th, there was green vegetables, root crops, honey, wine, meat, fish, mushrooms, local coffee, jarred pickles, and some cool dog treats. Out side there was a tent selling seedling plants; peppers, tomatoes (so many varieties...), lettuces, herb, etc..

So what did I buy. Rushing Waters Fisheries located in Kettle Moraine had a deal on two fresh trout, smoke salmon, and salmon burgers that I couldn't pass up. While talking to Springdale Farm I bought some potatoes. My wife loves the pickled mushrooms over at River Valley and I really like their mixed mushroom deal. We just last night ate the incredible tasting lamb chops from Pinn-Oak Ridge Farms, Watch Steph's Snack Shack for the a blog about dish. 


Still not impressed, well visit the links bellow and see what else they had there. Remember just 7 more months before it starts again... that reminds me, I better start working on my vegetable garden before it winters comes back! ;)




Resources:
Official Milwaukee County Winter Farmers' Market


List of Producers at the Winters Farmers Market

More pictures from my visit 

Rain Barrels

a blast from the past...




Last year I wrote an entry about rain barrels. If you are considering adding a rain barrel (and who wouldn't with the benifets it gives to your garden), then give this entry a read. http://gardenrainbarrel.blogspot.com/

Whether you want to collect rain water for your lawn/garden, decided to go green by reducing the strain on your city's storm drains, or just looking for another project; rain barrels might be the right option for you. Searching the web for different rain barrel systems, I found nothing that fit my situation. There are some basics to consider before you build your rain barrels: Amount of water, Filtering, Storage, and Usage.

This topic has grown a life of its own. Please visit my rain barrel blog where I go over this topic and explain why I chose my rain barrel design.

Starting Seeds: Hardening off plants

Time to toughen you up, for the real world.

I have potted up my seedlings. What else can I do before planting them in the garden? My little plants are still fragile. Growing in the protection my house with no wind, no heavy rain, no cold temps, and not baking under the full sun light. To prevent transplant shock and allow these plants to thrive I need to start transitioning them to the real world.

Why harden your plants?
Mainly to prevent the dreaded transplant shock. The effects of transplant shock include slow growth, reduce/prevent fruiting, product bad/rotten fruit, make the plant to susceptible to disease, or kill the plant.

When to harden your plants?
3-14 days before planting directly into soil. This is mainly advised when you have a environment outside then where the seeds are grown. This includes if the seeds where grown inside and it is still cold outside.

How to harden your plants?
Let the plants say out side in some shade/partial sunny area. Eventially you will slowly put the plants into areas of more and more direct sun light. Setting the plants outside to allow the plants to transition to a colder temperature. be cautions of weather under 50 degrees, heavy rains, or high winds. This is to protect seedling's stems from strain and the roots from shock.



Resources :

http://www.growit.umd.edu/SeedStarting/Hardening.cfm

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/914/#b

http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenprimer/ss/SeedStarting_10.htm

http://richmondfoodcollective.blogspot.com/2012/03/seed-starting-and-hardening-off-for.html

http://chiotsrun.com/2010/05/19/seed-starting-101-hardening-off/