Vegetables, Eucalyptus, Clay Soil, and Fruit Trees
Question from Christian:
I live in Del Mar near Fairbanks Ranch, and I’d like to get some of your thoughts on gardening and adding some new organic fruits, herbs, and vegetables to my house to feed us! My goal is to turn a portion of my property into a full blown garden. The challenges are the soil is clay and there are about 15 fruit trees on the property that do okay in the summer, but not amazing. Only a small portion of the land seems to get excessive sunlight but I do have some areas with regular sunlight. I also wanted to get your thoughts on the some new mulch that was dropped off and spread around my fruit trees. It consists mostly eucalypus wood shavings and a few leaves. I heard this wasn’t ideal so do you suggest I remove it all?
Answer from Pat:
Thank you so much for your excellent questions. Here are my answers divided into categories.
- Vegetable Gardening and Edibles in a New Garden
- Chipped Eucalyptus Wood and Leaves from Tree Trimmers
- Sun and Shade in a New Garden
- Dealing with Clay Soil
- Fruit Trees
With best wishes for great organic gardening success,
Pat
I like this site. I moved to San Diego from the Midwest where I could only garden during summer. I live in the area around Paradise Valley. I have amended my soil manure and topsoil blends and tilled them in well. I also threw in some water absorbent polymers while doing so my soil seems to drain quite well. I wonder if I waited to late for the amending, it seems my tomato plants are over fertilized and have that burnt look. I know I should have done the Amend in the winter but unfortunately I was not here due to being Deployed. Should I just replant and hope for the best, because the companion plantings in area are doing fine.
First I am of the strong belief that polymers are bad for garden soil. Thank you so much for writing to me and bringing up this subject since it gives me a chance to warn other gardeners nationwide against this dangerous practice. My experience is that polymers can clog the air pockets between soil particles and this creates lack of air pockets in soil. Plant roots need air in soil for healthy growth. Many gardeners do not realize that healthy soils contain much air. I have had some bad luck with potting soils containing polymers also. Some are okay but others do not drain well and stay too wet. If fungus gnats get into these potting soils it’s almost impossible to get rid of them since these potting soils won’t dry out. Roots rot in badly constituted potting soils that contain too many polymers since these soils do not drain well and stay too moist. Good potting soils should be capable of drying out a bit between irrigations. A great soil expert once said to me “Never monkey with the structure of your soil.” Soil Structure means the size of the particles that are in it. What we gardeners all need to do is to live with what you’ve got and improve it by amending it with organics. Technically, sand, clay, and silt are the three main categories of soil and loam is the combination of all three. Each soil type has particular size particles in it that define that soil type. Most people have a natural combination of two or three of these sizes of particles, not equal parts. The main point is whichever type or types of soil you have naturally, don’t try to change it into another. And if you have rocky soil that drains well don’t try to empty it of all rocks or it may never drain well again. Whatever soil you have stick with it and add organic matter to make it better. You were doing the right thing when you added organic matter like manure but why did mix in top soil to your existing soil? That could change the size of them particles in your soil and might stop it from draining properly. (Please see the opening chapter of my organic book which explains soils, their categories, structures, and the way to amend each of them in great detail.) I will also be speaking on soils this coming fall September 22, 2012, at the Orange County Master Gardeners Seminar at the Central Library in Redondo Beach. So why not use polymers to increase the water-holding capacity of sandy soil? In the first place, polymers are not natural. They are man made from petroleum by products. That in itself is an unhealthy additive to soil. I believe that polymers in soil can kill earthworms when they ingest it. But more importantly, when you combine polymers with soil they break up and as you dig and work the soil, the polymers change the shape of particles in soil making it smooth like a jelly or pudding. If you added enough of them they would prevent the soil from draining properly because polymers fill in the spaces between the particles. This can prevent air from existing in soil by clogging the spaces between the particles. This is very dangerous since roots cannot live without air in soil. Polymers in garden soil can also make soil hold too many salts instead of letting salts drain away. So don’t ever again add polymers to your garden soil. I know this from experience since many years ago during a drought I foolishly added polymers to a small plot of ground and I saw the bad results. This soil had pudding-like consistency, poor drainage, no air between soil particles and no earthworms. Even to this day if a top layer of this area get’s wet a layer beneath that can remain bone dry. But what is done is done and go forth from here from now on only using organics. Just don’t make the same mistake again. I hope thanks to you that I’ve warned many other gardeners never to add polymers to their garden soil. The burnt leaves on your tomatoes might be caused by salt retention in the soil, perhaps caused by polymers and perhaps not. A soil test might tell you if the soil is too salty. An application of gypsum could help you wash out the salts. Also, however, crisp brown leaves might mean your plants have early blight or late blight. If this is the problem, clip off the bad leaves and spray the plants with Serenade. Don’t pull out the plants unless they die. Yes, too much manure in the soil could cause salt damage but adequate rains can wash the salts away especially if you apply gypsum. Best of luck!