A Beginners Guide to Gardening

 A Walk Around My Yard

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Basic Soil Information and What I Use as a Mix

Soil management is a deep science, but you don’t need a doctorate to understand the basics that matter in the garden. So, what exactly is soil? In short, it’s a complex mixture of minerals, organic materials, air, and water. When these components are present in the right proportions, they create a living, dynamic environment that properly supports plant life. A “healthy, loamy” soil is typically considered to be a balanced mix of 45% minerals, 5% organic matter, 25% water, and 25% air. This balance creates a soil that drains well yet holds enough moisture and nutrients for roots to thrive. Plants rely on a predictable supply of nutrients, and gardeners usually group these into two categories: primary and secondary. The primary nutrients are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). The secondary nutrients are calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S). There are also many micronutrients—such as iron, manganese, and boron—but we usually don’t deal with those directly. While tha...
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Making a Case for the Chinese Tallow Tree

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Seed Stratification

Stratification/Scarification: Stratification and scarification: a lot of gardeners have heard these words, but many don’t really understand what they mean or why they matter. I sure didn’t at first. I learned the hard way—by trial and error and a few failures. One year, I decided I was going to save all the seeds from the muscadine grapes I ate and grow myself a whole new batch of vines. I treated them just like the seeds I save from peppers, tomatoes, and squash: cleaned them, dried them for a week or so, and planted them. Sounded like a solid plan…but not a single seed sprouted. Not one. I figured I’d either made a mistake or ended up with defective seeds. I shrugged it off and moved on. Then, months later, I noticed something interesting: little grape seedlings popping up all around the original vine. These were seeds that had simply fallen to the ground the year before. They sprouted just fine. So the seeds weren’t the problem—it was the way I was going about it. The seeds have to ...
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