this happens to me in potted plants as well as my herb garden. i like to think i have a green thumb, but i know i don't. part of the reason, i think, is that the soil gets really hard on top. very packed in. this is happening in my freshly planted herb garden. after all the rains over the last two weeks, i've held off watering this week. my herbs are doing great - especially the basil bushes. however, i was weeding the garden today and the soil was really, REALLY hard. a little cracked on top - looked a bit like drought conditions. as it was damp underneath the surface, i was confused. needless to say, i'll run the sprinklers late tonight/early tomorrow morning, and i tilled up the soil a bit, but why does this always happen to me? i've lost countless plants, and i think its because the soil gets hard on top. what causes this?
Maybe the dirt you're using is too clay-ey? It would dry on top faster than the soil below. If you got more granular/sandy soil it would drain and dry more evenly. Related question: is it better to water in the mornings or in the evenings? All I have is potted flowers and herbs.
The top surface is drying out. You can prevent this by mulching. Spread a few inches of mulch over the soil to help regulate the moisture. after the growing season, you can work the mulch into teh soil and it will help improve the humus content. With houseplants, I'm not sure.
Sounds like it is native clay soil. You need to amend the soil with a lot of organic material and some fine sand. Ideally though, you should remove all the clay and backfill with a good landscaping mix from someone like the Natural Gardener in Oak Hill. Clay is tough to deal with so just get rid of it if you can.
This can happen with any soil, but clay is some of the worst for it. When the rains come as heavy as they did, your soil turns to mud. this pushes the air pockets out of the soil. As the sun comes back out, the soil dries, and the top naturally dries first. Without air, it shrinks and forms a hard cake that then insulates the soil below. I have a garden that floods far too often and I'll lose plants after too much rain because either the soil shrinks away from the plant (exposing the roots) or forms a thick layer and the roots rot out from below.
I'm with brntorng on this one. I have clay, and I just ammend it with good compost. If I'm creating a bed, I'll just work a good compost into the first 2-3" of soil, and then when I plant I'll mix the natural soil with compost to create the backfill. You have to be very careful here, and this is why I prefer to plant in beds rather than just a random plant here and there, because if you make the soil in the area immediately around the plant substantially better than the rest of the soil, the root structure will want to stay in the good soil and will not develop as well. If you topdress your soil anually with compost you shouldn't run into this problem, as all your soil will kick ***. Hayden - If you're able too, I'd just go buy a few bags of quality compost (Ladybug is great), and work it into the first 2-3 inches of soil, and then mulch with a good organic mulch. The stuff called "Native Texas Hardwood Mulch" that you can find at Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. is good stuff. Now on to this, if your plants are doing well, I wouldn't really worry about it. Are you growing native Texas plants? Plants that are native to Texas will grow great in your crappy soil, just like they do in nature. It's very easy to grow native plants here in Texas. Just because someting will grow in Zone 8B, doesn't mean that it'll thrive here. As for your container plants, I'd get a different potting mix. I really like the HEB Texas Backyard "Premium Organic Soil Mix".
well, i have two rosemary bushes, two basil bushes, two oregano plants, an english thyme and a culinaery sage. the basil bushes and the sage are doing great. the sicilian oregano is putting down more roots, but looks good. the english thyme doesn't look so hot, but it doesn't look terrible either. lastly, the rosemary bushes are growing slowly. i'm a little concerned about the basil bushes outpacing them too much. however, i did mix in a bag of organic soil from great outdoors, but the soil in the planter is pretty good. i do think that i have a bit of a runoff problem, and with the heavy rains, it was probably exacerbated. when mixing in new soil, how careful should i be around the plants? also, if i mulch, will i be "piling too high?" how much mulch should i put in - 2"? 3"? The oregano is more of a "viny" plant that's going to crawl along the ground and set new roots, it looks like. what do ya'll think?
you should get Lazyengineer to respond to this thread; he has an incredible knowledge of gardening and plants, although he really is an engineer.
Mr.Myke should amble into this soon as well. He is purty danged handy with this stuff too, among other things. But I think he is off canoeing or something.
Amending the soil after planting is quite tricky and doesn't always achieve the desired results, since unamended soil is still around the base of the plant. If it's possible, remove the plants as if you were going to transplant them, amend the ENTIRE bed and then replant. They'll suffer a little through the initial transplant shock, but will be much better off in the long-term. There's still a LOT of the growing season left and you'll be battling this issue until you can rework all the soil.
Hayden- You planted very hardy plants. Most herbs are basically weeds, which is to say that they are usually hardy, well adapted, perennial and aggressive. This is certainly true for your list, and as pioneer plants, they are slowly working to improve your soil. If you want to grow better and more herbs, vegetables, or speed up the improvement, continue reading my post. Like many people you have bare soil in your garden and beds. This is ironic because in nature there is only one place with a lot of bare soil: deserts. Bare soil gets compacted by rain and foot and animal traffic. When it dries, that compacted soil gets fired by the sun into a china plate, and cracks. It's more than ugly, it's also dead and worthless. Here's my three step plan for you. Step 0) Have your soil tested. Everyone should do this, but nobody does. so you'll skip to step #1. Step #1) Till about 4" of organic manure compost into your garden at a depth of 8-10", along with about 20lbs/1000SF of red lava sand, Texas Greensand, and Soft Rock Phosphate. Now your beds are loose, raised, well-drained and spongy, and will hold just the right amount of water and attract worms and healthy bacteria which will inhibit pests and fire ants. You can rent a tiller, buy one, or use a garden claw. All work well. I use a garden claw in small areas and own a gas tiller for larger ones, which is also awesome. I would pull up the herbs you have and replant them in this. You may lose the more delicate ones like lavender, and they'll be stressed in the move, but it's really worth it. If you don't walk on this bed, you won't have to do this again. Step #2) Mulch your beds with 3-4 inches of Cedar Mulch. NOT CYPRESS, which is very mediocre. Native Cedar mulch, which is the best mulch money can buy for this clime. Yes, use that much. This blanket of mulch keeps your soil moist during dry times, and keeps it from getting waterlogged during wet times. As it decomposes it fertilizes the soil underneath. It keeps the soil loose and let's it breath. If you skip step #1, Step #2 will solve your cracking problem all by itself. It just won't break up the soild that's already compacted. But the mulch will allow for better health over time, which will solve the problem slower, but still faster than doing nothing. Step #3) Buy this book Hope that helps. P.S. I don't use any conventional chemicals and am pulling a pound of grape tomatoes each day off of only four plants right now and for the last few weeks. Four plants. My herbs and peppers are also insanely productive. Healthy soil=happy plants=good eating.
Damn, I've got a lot to learn. I just planted my first garden (Japanese eggplant, zucchini squash, African purple sage, Crenshaw melon, Roma tomatoes, Brandywine tomatoes, spinach, Creole collard greens, Weezie sweet peppers, poblano peppers) and things are starting to fruit. I lost a couple plants b/c I don't think I was watering them enough (it's been the driest summer in Los Angeles' record history). I tried to build some good soil, but I think my first attempt failed, so I started over and transplanted a few plants. That seems to have done well, though I have also been watering quite a bit more. Any other tips for first-timers (particularly for the Southern California climate)? Good stuff on this thread...
Deadhead: That's a really ambitious garden, good for you. A few things: 1) With that many types of plants, chances are you aren't giving them enough room, unless you have a big garden, but maybe so- check your spacing and pull the weaker plants if you're crowded. 2) The soil building program I outlined above will work well in SoCal or anywhere else, with the exception of the preference for Cedar mulch, which may or may not be available there. I'd recommend whatever shredded native wood your local organic supply recommends. The key thing for soil improvement is to till the compost into whatever dirt is already there and not try to mix in a bunch of dirt from a bag. A little is OK, but not much. Here's a good resource.
bozo- great stuff. thanks. i only planted these before our austin monsoon, so their roots won't be that deep. couple of questions: 1) when i pull them out, should i shake the soil from the roots, or should i keep a clump? 2) mulch before or after planting?
bozo nailed it...manure/good soil and muldch will solve many problems with hardy plants...I deal with it all the time in colorado...but here I just add a big rock next to the plant and for some reason it makes the plant kick ***...
This board is awesome. I have absolutely no desire to grow my own food so the information above is worthless* to me, but it is still awesome. *My wife has taken an interest in gardening so I will probably be forced into taking an interest in the above information in the near future.
ok, well, the project went much more smoothly and quickly than i thought. here's the before pics: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b133/haydenhorn/DSCF5860.jpg[IMG] yes, that stupid fountain thing has a short shelf life. as soon as i find a decent birdbath to take its place, it's out like yesterday's garbage. in any case, please notice the dark, hard dirt. it's clumped and actually waet from the rains yesterday, but its VERY clay-ey. so next, i yanked the plants out and placed them in dirt clumps in the shade. i bought some scott's humus and manure mix and spread about 2 inches (6 bags) on top of my current garden. i took a garden claw and kicked my own *** over the next hour or so twisting and turning that **** into the soil. with the wet soil and clay, it was hellish. but i finished up and spread out the cedar mulch on top. raked it even, then replanted my herbs. at first, they were in BAAAAAD shape - especially the sage and basil bushes. but i just took these pics right before giving them a bit of water about 4 hours after replanting, and everything is looking MUCH better. [IMG]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b133/haydenhorn/DSCF5865.jpg i realize that the plants seem very far apart, but i'm trying to leave room for growth. n any case, thanks bozo for the advice. hopefully, this will help my plants out and i can start harvesting herbs at the end of summer/fall.
No Problem. BTW, you should probably give the whole bed a good soaking tonight. Your spacing looks really good. All of those plants are going to bush out. Nice work.
i water via sprinkler system every (non-rainy) night at around 3:30 am. so that entire bed will get plenty of love in about 7 hours. the plants look pretty much puny, but they'll bush out. thanks again for the advice, bozo.
Do you have that bed covering the bottoms of your fence slats? If so, I would recommend that you run a pressure treated board horizontally between the bed and the slats.
