#22 - Dec 2018 - Garden Stuff - © Sandy Lang - slang@xtra.co.nz
COMPACTED SOIL Mid November: Almost summer. Wind, sun - and water rationing… Tough for gardens and gardeners alike… What to do…? Rescue shower and kitchen water. And what else…?
Conserve & increase: Get some free tree-chip mulch (just south of Eastbourne bus barns). Tree-chip mulch reduces soil water loss and (slowly) increases soil water-holding capacity. This all helps... But wait, there's more - there are other ways to increase the amount of water available to your plants...!
Increase rooting volume: You can also increase the volume of soil accessed by your plant's roots. Move the roots up more, and down more (perhaps) and increase root water access in the middle...
Top layer: Bare soil gets hot in the day, cold at night. Roots don’t like this so are largely absent from the top 5 cm or so of the soil. A mulch blanket keeps this top 5 cm cool in the day and warm at night, so roots can thrive here in this air-rich, nutrient-rish, water-rich, upper layer. That's another 5 cm of rooting volume...!
Subsoil: There’re few roots below about 25 cm down where the soil is too often waterlogged, compacted, anaerobic etc - nothing much you can do about this but it's worth not making the problem any worse - see below.
Mid layer: Most roots live between 5 and 25 cm down. In this depth-band a soil contains many natural channels (insect/worm burrows, spaces left by dead roots). These serve as air and water conduits.
But it’s not natural for a soil to be exposed to heavy wheel and foot traffic. These collapse these air/water channels. The result is soil compaction and fewer roots.
A compacted soil contains little air, drains badly and waterlogs often. Few roots can penetrate a compacted soil or survive long there if they do - under a washing line, under a wheel track. Soil compaction recovers very slowly (years) - you must wait. Compacted soil contains water, but it is inaccessible to your water-starved plants because their roots can’t reach it.
Don’ts & dos: So, don’t make compaction any worse. Especially, don’t park on grass or under a tree. And don’t stand on your vegie bed. But do spread your weight over a bigger area than your foot. Make paths where you walk often (concrete, pavers, boards).
And when in the bush, keep to the path. Why create new lines of soil compaction that limit access to soil water by our precious forest trees…? ___________________________________
COMPACTED SOIL Mid November: Almost summer. Wind, sun - and water rationing… Tough for gardens and gardeners alike… What to do…? Rescue shower and kitchen water. And what else…?
Conserve & increase: Get some free tree-chip mulch (just south of Eastbourne bus barns). Tree-chip mulch reduces soil water loss and (slowly) increases soil water-holding capacity. This all helps... But wait, there's more - there are other ways to increase the amount of water available to your plants...!
Increase rooting volume: You can also increase the volume of soil accessed by your plant's roots. Move the roots up more, and down more (perhaps) and increase root water access in the middle...
Top layer: Bare soil gets hot in the day, cold at night. Roots don’t like this so are largely absent from the top 5 cm or so of the soil. A mulch blanket keeps this top 5 cm cool in the day and warm at night, so roots can thrive here in this air-rich, nutrient-rish, water-rich, upper layer. That's another 5 cm of rooting volume...!
Subsoil: There’re few roots below about 25 cm down where the soil is too often waterlogged, compacted, anaerobic etc - nothing much you can do about this but it's worth not making the problem any worse - see below.
Mid layer: Most roots live between 5 and 25 cm down. In this depth-band a soil contains many natural channels (insect/worm burrows, spaces left by dead roots). These serve as air and water conduits.
But it’s not natural for a soil to be exposed to heavy wheel and foot traffic. These collapse these air/water channels. The result is soil compaction and fewer roots.
A compacted soil contains little air, drains badly and waterlogs often. Few roots can penetrate a compacted soil or survive long there if they do - under a washing line, under a wheel track. Soil compaction recovers very slowly (years) - you must wait. Compacted soil contains water, but it is inaccessible to your water-starved plants because their roots can’t reach it.
Don’ts & dos: So, don’t make compaction any worse. Especially, don’t park on grass or under a tree. And don’t stand on your vegie bed. But do spread your weight over a bigger area than your foot. Make paths where you walk often (concrete, pavers, boards).
And when in the bush, keep to the path. Why create new lines of soil compaction that limit access to soil water by our precious forest trees…? ___________________________________