GARDENING CAN BE FUN

How does your garden grow

I would like reminisce over the past year and re-iterate some of the important information that guides us to successful gardening.

First and foremost, you need good soil. would suggest that you take a soil sample in different areas of you yard. I have a few soil test kits. If you are interested, please contact me at: Happygardener10@alo.com (note: I purposely misspell “garner” without one of the “e’s”). I guess there were so many on the internet, I had to be creative to use the name: Happygardner10@ alo.com.

When you know what amendments your soil needs, you can add them before starting your gardens. You can also obtain the soil test kits at Gregg County Extension Office, 405 E. Marshall Ave. Longview, Texas 75601 or call 903-236-8429. You simply follow the directions on the sack. When you receive the evaluation about your soil from them, you will be ready to begin.

In the past, farmers and gardeners would taste the soil. UG! If the soil was bitter or sour, it wasn’t good for raising crops. If it tested sweet, the crop yield would be high. A sour taste means the soil is too acid for most plants. A bitter taste means it is to alkaline.

Sweet or nearly neutral soil is ideal for most gardens, grasses, trees and shrubs. Your soil PH is invaluable for your garden’s well-being. Most vegetables, fruits and flowers do best on soils that have a PH of 6.5 to 7. If your soil is clay, it needs, compost, manure, leaf mold, rice hulls, peat moss, coarse sand, sawdust and wood chips. If it is sandy soil, it needs large amounts of organic matter, manure worked in deeply in the fall or winter, plenty of peat moss, compost, leaf mold or sawdust in the topsoil and green manure’s to build structure, If your soil is loam, (a mixture of sand, silt and clay) it is close to the ideal soil, but you need to regularly infuse if with organic matter to maintain its excellent fertility and structure: such as, compost, peat moss and manure or cottonseed meal. I have suggested that you also till lots of leaves into you vegetable garden now, so they will have time to rot and be ready for you to plant after the last frost in the spring. Check your soil, amend it, and get ready for the coming spring.

This information is rather tedious, but necessary. I hope you will keep this in your Gardener’s Journal for future reference.

A good idea for new and old gardeners that are trying ot decide how to landscape their yards, is to take pictures on each side of the house, front and back, to determine different areas of sun, and shade. If you have time, do this several times a day, in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon. Then you will know how much sun and shade your plants will have. I know this sounds difficult, but you will reap benefits in the future. Some plants like shade, partial shade, partial sun and full sun. This will help you know where to place your plants.

I hope I haven’t bored you with too many details, but starting off right will help prevent future mistakes.

My wish for you is that your had a Blessed Christmas with family and friends and in 2007, may you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! The Happy Gardener