How to Fix Dry Soil to Make it Healthy and Productive
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2021
- Today I'm creating a new herb bed out of an old concrete planter filled with dry and dusty garden soil. Before I can plant into it, I'll need to bring life and moisture back to the soil. This is how to fix dry soil, using just two ingredients and a little bit of elbow grease.
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#gardeningtips #vegetablegarden #gardening - Jak na to + styl
Finally, a video that shows "bad soil" that isn't just a few shades lighter than pitch black. Took me a couple weeks but I've found it!
Yes, We have finally arrive at this video
In Australia mulch is always bark, branches, leaves that have been through a ‘mulcher’ and is super popular for helping cut down on needing to water. It’s encouraged so much to conserve water that the council will come around and mulch for you any bits of your trees you have leftover from pruning so you can put it on your garden.
Great Video! Have you considered starting a worm farm? They create the BEST organic fertilizer in the world! I raise millions of worms for fertilizer for my garden and to teach others how to care for them :)
@@CaptainMattsWorms I want to get some red wiggles but everywhere I have looked up that sends them has reviews of them showing up dead or dying soon after delivery.
I am Australian and I have never heard of this, how do I organise this?
Divine Truth in Queensland out there are doing earth experiments using mulch 6 ft holes and doing compost underground as opposed to on top of the ground e@@santr2
I live in Phoenix. I have caliche dirt. I used gypsum and bag cow manure from home depot and made my soil very soft.
I'm trying to grow grass from fall to spring, since summers are to hot here.
My dogs love the grass.
I love composting. I just harvested a few bucket fulls yesterday to mulch around my beds.
Absolutely loved this episode. Many thanks Tanya.
Huge improvement!
Beautiful shades of purple!
That planter is lovely looking I think the plants will do great in their new home
This was a great informative video. The garden is looking great.
"Are you going to Scarborough Fair:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.
Tell her to find me an acre of land:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Between the salt water and the sea strands,
Then she'll be a true love of mine."
It's beautiful - I just planted some Salvia from branches I broke off to begin new plants - into a barren pot by adding compost and the giant honey bees began dinning immediately. It made me so happy to see that the pollinators loved it as much as I did. Now I'm off to see your compost making video. My compost has been taken over by tomatoes and squash so I need to make a new one.
Volunteer plants LOVE colonizing compost 😆💚
This Lovely Lady is always my goto for useful info
Yes, it is lovely. Thank you.
A job well done Tanya! I know that you aim for no dig but sometimes when time is precious and the plants need saving you have clearly done the right thing. You have such hard work ahead of you and I am so excited to watch your progress. Small steps, don't burn yourself out in this hot weather, you are amazing and inspiring. Thank you for sharing your journey. Xx
Omgosh it was SO hot. I was also recovering from covid making this video. I think I sweated it all out 🙈
@@Lovelygreens Hope you have recovered well and are settling in to your amazing new home and garden. So exiting!
Fantastic, interesting and informative video Tanya and good that you selected non peat based compost to do the job 👍
Thank you for sharing.
Be well and be safe.
Peace
Thank you for educating me. I was wondering how to get our soil moist.
Awesome, thank you so much for sharing your great video!! 👍
Your patio, greenhouse, & shed look amazing! And now the planter as well. The new property is really coming together. May we have an updated garden tour to see how it's looking so far? And what you're still working on? Future plans? Have a lovely day!
Yes, I think it's about time :)
Great result!
Thanks for this video. It helped me in my situation.
We've gotten into watering systems great when you've sorted out your pipes or leaks
Great video Thanks for sharing.
Amazing video, thanks for the tips =). Hugs from Brazil
Looks great.
First year gardening on my own (used to be part of an allotment garden,) and in a new climate. Having a lot of successes but also lots of failures (esp with the ridiculous heat we are getting, this time of year in Cyprus,) but I am taking careful notes so that I will know better for next year!
Also discovered a wonderful company near me which chips whole trees down to mulch and only charges 2.5 euros per 5kg bag!
Due to the dimensions of the concrete planter, I wondered if a femur or humerus might inadvertently pop up whilst you were turning the dirt - but all was fine!
LMAO
Great info, enjoyed the video.
Cocoa shells or coconut husks and yes pine needles used here in Canada
Awesome tips!
your video pop up on my screen and I so entertained 👍
Happy to see u friend and want to see ur videos more & more💕😊
I mulch every year with green grass, like 6 inches thick, and i dont care if it goes anerobic....it just rots. Then in the spring it gets tilled into the dirt and its great
This is actually a wonderful video! I wished I had done this because I lost a few plants. Last few weeks I redid my garden and added a lot of compost with clean soil the shul is now retaining water. This is probably the best DIY video I've seen!
For mulching, in Australia we have a few choices but I ran with suger cane 😍
So pleased that it helped!
Thank you 😊
Didn’t get through the comments but wondered if burying a few rotten logs down the middle and piling the compost on top will help hold the moisture too. Good luck with all your new beds, and your new home. ❤
The Bee's love sage, so do I, it smells really nice.
I thought herbs liked poor soil--learn something new every day.
Some survive in poor soil but most grow better in rich, free-draining soil.
Very nice video! 🙂
Love the video thanks for making it!
My pleasure 🙂
Thanks for posting.. I thought I was the only person with dry soil.
All my life I've never saw soil as dry as mine in some areas of yard space. I pulled roots from old trees, cricket moles, sand, root rot, rocks. I also notice mulch is not always organic. I have purchased aswell as friends, mulch that came from abandoned building and have painted wood chips, can't help to think of lead in the garden. Even as a child making mud pies this soil is so dry from old roots competing with new growth.
Wishing you luck with reviving your garden soil!
Great video
I think the crocosmia are beautiful!
They're beautiful until they take over everything! They're like orange bindweed 😆
Very great madam, your blessed
Moved into a new house and the flower beds and raspberry bed look like this. I suspect heavy use of weed killer by previous residents has killed the soil. We are at high elevation, so, fairly short growing season and the soil can be cold well into early summer. So, non-farmers tend to also force blooms with chemical fertilizer. I'm not only revitalizing the depleted soil I am trying to make it "fluffier." Very pleased to see this vid, it supports my own plans and I feel more confident in my soil resurrections skills.
Best of luck - I'm sure that with your oversight, your soil will recover 👍
Though I know they've been neglected, it's lovely to see the garden infrastructure that you have around your new home. I used compost as a mulch last fall but it seemed too 'hot' and my winter brassicas really struggled. Does that sound right?
Compost made out of purely vegetable matter shouldn't cause any issues. If there was manure in your compost it could burn plants if not fully composted. Is that the case with yours?
Any compost that hasn't fully decomposed is going to get too hot, I had this happen with some store bought compost. Not only that but compost that is still decomposing will actual steal nutrients, Charles Dowding talks about this extensively.
This is brilliant Tanya and thanks so much for sharing. You mentioned peat free compost and this is brilliant. Manufacturing often quote increased cost for lack of peat free, but I fail to understand why peat free is horrendously expensive and peat compost is often as cheap as chips! Surely it should be the other way around. If peat was more costly the profits made could be used to offset the increased production cost of peat free. It could also be used to manufacture a really good quality peat free. I find the peat free compost woody, fibrous and the seedlings germinate then stall as though they have run out of energy. Sorry for the soapbox but this is a really important issue right now.
Hi Lynn and I'm so glad you've brought this up. Peat is cheap because it's mined out of the soil rather than created for purpose. It's highly destructive which is why it will be banned completely in potting/compost mixes in the UK very soon. There are some excellent peat-free seed sowing mixes here now as a result of people wanting to avoid peat. Dalefoot makes the finest and best that I've seen, but it's been difficult for me to get it since Covid hit.
@@Lovelygreens many thanks for your reply. I will try to get some Dalefoot compost, but it's not a name I recognise so I suspect it's not easily available. Having watched the link to making compost that you did, I've now decided to become our family home compost warrior! By this time next year, I really hope to have enough home made compost, I won't need to rely upon bought stuff for my precious veg seeds 😁. P.s my daughter absolutely loved the geranium soap/ body butter set that I purchased from you recently and gave for her birthday. One of our favourite scents. Will be returning for more soon.
you done a lovely job on that well done tanya i like your ice cubes in kg magazine
Thanks!
Here in Sweden it is common that only the top layer of soil actually dries, meaning it becomes like a protective layer that makes the soil always be moist throughout the season, it’s probably because of how the air isn’t warm but the sun is
Or because people use compost as a surface mulch.
@@Lovelygreens thing is this happens in our garden and it’s really just bare soil, maybe it’s organic matter from the soil floating up to the surface when watering heavily becoming like it’s own mulch layer
Depens on soil sample, humus, Ph value, what kind of soil you need to what plant.
I have a raised bed of sorrel that I planted 5 years ago. It's doing well, but the soil has really become dry and depleted. How do you amend soil when plants are already in the bed and raising the soul level would suffocate the plant? What's the best way to fix beds that are NOT empty? Thanks!
if you have a sandy and gravely soil with no water retention, you might need a little clay. but in general you do not. if you can plow deep, a low water retention soil is not so bad because your plants will go down there.
deep mulch is great if you can get the stuff. my roto tiller didn't like cleaning up chipped brush, but the tandem disk on the tractor, no problem
As a first time gardener I am wondering if this method will still work if I have weeds growing everywhere? Should I do something differently? TIA
Can you tell what brand of the compost are you used please?🙏🏽
Good video. How are your bees? A lot of honey this year?
Informative video. I prefer no dig but there was still information I could use 🙂
No dig doesn't work well in planters and containers since soil doesn't do well in them. It dries out and becomes compacted. Digging in compost is really necessary in cases like this. I do no dig in open ground though :)
@@Lovelygreens It worked well for my planter of a similar size. I soaked it first like you did but without turning the soil. Then covered with a good compost - a good couple of inches and left it covered. Lovely soil this year. But if you needed to plant quickly you would probably need a thicker top covering.
با افتخار سابسکرایب شدید ❤❤❤
Thank you 😊
That is exactly how dry the soil is in my yard
hi, before putting the compost on a layer of cardboard would help with the worm population and suppress any weeds
Can I apply this method to seeding new grass?
Absolutely, but ensure the soil is leveled before you sprinkle on the seeds.
i have that exact same soil. i unfortunately forgot to buy compost, i have potting soil but i dont know if its going ot help
Potting soil can help, but pure compost or aged manure will be much better 👌
Hello I was wondering if you can give me some advice on grubs on a allotment I've took on a allotment and there is loads of grub worm how can I get rid of them thank you
Grubs like leatherjackets tend to be in soil that's not been actively cultivated. It could be beds left fallow or new beds that were turf not long past. After a season of working the soil, the grubs will disappear for the most part. Remember, they're the larva of insects such as crane flies (daddy long legs). They'll mature into their adult form, and the adults stop laying as many eggs in disturbed soil. You can also buy nematode biological controls to help with grubs. It's expensive, though, and needs reapplication every six weeks or so. I, personally, would just keep the plot well tended and wait for cultivation to create a natural balance.
Can we do it for larger areas, where lots of dust and we need to reduce it for a long time???
Yes! Adding compost (any type) increases moisture retention and nutrients. With larger areas you may not need to dig either. Lay a thick layer of compost on top as a mulch and worms will bring it down into the soil for you. You'll be amazed at the results 👍
@@Lovelygreens wow
@@Lovelygreenshi i have one more query is it possible to have such type of soil everywhere, like in a city where there is dust polution due to soil dryness, it's a common problem in subcontinent and sub Saharan Africa.
How deep is the planter? Is there cement under the soil or earth?
I'm pretty sure that it's open-bottomed, but the soil gets worse as you go further down. It looks like builders sand and subsoil for the most part.
Here in the Edwards Plateau area of Central Texas, we're dealing with soil that is mostly limestone with a little bit of clay. What little topsoil that was here many years ago likely washed away due to the slightly sloping terrain. We would love to replace a lot of Bermuda grass in the backyard with planting areas for shrubs and perennials, but I see no way to improve the existing "soil".
Work on that Bermuda grass first - it's a toughie! As for your soil, simply placing a 3-4 inch layer of pure compost or aged manure on top is probably all you need to do. I'd consider covering the compost with a layer of straw in your region, too, what with the erosion and hot sun. Doing this covers the soil and locks in whatever moisture it has (stops evaporation). Worms will pull it down into the soil level, so you don't need to dig it in. Erosion on a slope can be controlled by creating wooden edges around your beds. My garden is on a steep gradient, and it works for me! Occasionally, I'll need to rake the compost back up, but once plants are growing, their roots hold the compost and soil in check. Look up no-till or no-dig gardening, and it may do wonders in your garden.
@@Lovelygreens I can't provide a link, but a video here with the label AIbRm1Rnyr0 will give you some idea of the soil we're dealing with. Trust me, I would give anything to have soil even close to the garden bed you demonstrated. In our backyard lawn, the tines of your pitchfork would stop after 1" deep, maybe 1.5" deep.
What compost did you use to mix in the garden bed
Manure based compost but ordinary garden compost works great too.
@@Lovelygreens Thank you 😊
That's what my soil is like. I've put so much compost in but it's still crummy. It was dry because of a huuuuge leylandii cypress which we have since cut down however we still have two giant sycamores and two giant lime trees that leach from the soil. Our soil is clay so is super dry and crumbly in summer but claggy in winter. I've found a few plants that love our soil (roses, liatris, stipa, salvias) but most just don't. Sad times...
Leylandii and some other trees tend to do that, but so does having clay soil. Adding loads of compost will help though, as will no dig garden beds. My soil has always been clay wherever I've gardened, but years of adding garden compost and manure made big improvements.
What composed did you use?
Composted manure, mainly, but you can use any organic compost to bring life back to soil. Green waste compost, for example.
Is there coir in the compost you just added? thanks.
Yes, it's pretty fibrous and retains a lot of water. Enough to kickstart life coming back to this poor soil.
@@Lovelygreens thanks, I have some coconut coir blocks I need to hydrate--and it's totally sustainable environmentally! Get the word out!
I love mixing coco coir and potting soil for my seed starting mix!
@@juliemcgugan1244 do you do a 50/50 mix?
Is this only for vegetable plants or flowers also
For both :)
Best time of year to do this ?
You can do it any time of the year as long as the soil isn't frozen and the bed doesn't have plants growing in it.
I've heard recently that mushroom compost actually contains peat, so wouldn't be suitable for peat-free option. Do you know if this is correct?
Hi Nina, and that is correct. Mushroom compost often contains peat but using it is also a form of recycling as it's a waste product. It's up to the person whether they wish to use it or not.
Ì think mushrooms are often grown in horse manure, it is also made alkaline for the mushrooms so be aware near ericaceous plants.
This peat tree craze is silly. Right up there with paper straws.
@@helenachase5627 what is silly about not wanting our oceans and marine life full of single use plastic straws?
@@clairemcconway6266 changing the world one straw at a time
All well and good to use bark and what not but in the western country is full of white ants. Put a peice of polly pipe with holes in it in the middle of your garden plot about 6inches to a foot below the roots for watering. Have each end of the polly pipe sticking out so when watering you can add nutrients straight to the roots. You'll figure it out.
I might’ve missed it… but why did you use a “Peat-Free” mix?
Peat is a type of soil found buried deep under swamps, it's the stuff that eventually turns into coal, but it's makes great soil, the problem is that mining it is really bad for thr ecosystem they're getting it from so it's looked down upon now
😍👌👌👌👌
Sundays are for picking stones. 4:04
Why are you prefer a peat free compost?
harvesting peat moss is bad for the environment.
Rain makes soil less dry.
In the US we say dirt is mineral and rock based and soil is what has organic matter and worms, beetles, nematodes, etc.
Dirt needs amendments, soil is what we strive for.
Tee hee - when my biologist hubby was studying soil science, they were quite stuffy about using the word "soil" ... The word Oregon's?
Dirt, British - from "drit" thwart Bernhard stuff,, rhymes with a more familiar word for the same stuff
Soil, from the French - recession to "night soil" ....
Same-same!
@@1Lightdancer Am french but what did you mean By recession to night soil ? Thx
In the UK we would say soil must contain organic matter otherwise it is just rock dust. Tanya says that planter appears to be builder's waste and sand, ie ground rock and rubble. Creating a deep soil for intensive growing (ie vegetables) needs regular input as you constantly crop the plants. Even mulching with grass clippings improves the soil but slowly.
whats the easiest way to get rid of weeds? my soil is dry, theres an ants nest ive been working on getting rid of theres snow now so i need to wait. but, how can i get rid of all the weeds and grass? also this video was useful as how to get my soil healthier
Check out my video on how to easily clear land of grass and weeds: czcams.com/video/G-9ZdLAxI4I/video.html
I was using a hoe and shovel to try cultivate the dirt. Is the one at 2:32 better at doing this task? If so, what is it called? Thank you
I don't own a shovel - for digging holes, a spade is much better. The tool you see in that part of the video is a garden fork. It's the best tool for digging over soil and incorporating compost. There are different types of hoes, but none are supposed to be used for digging. I have a Dutch hoe for weeding, and a drawing hoe for drawing soil and compost around plants such as potatoes. Drawing hoes are the most popular type of hoe but can be damaged if being used as a main digging tool.
You're so pleasant.
When the soil is so bad not even weeds can grow and you can't even pierce the ground with a shovel
Moisture and compost will definitely help! You'll be amazed
To me it looks like you have too much compost, My question is does it not burn the roots ?
Not at all, and there's almost no such thing as too much compost. Many plants are happy to grow in compost alone! The pumpkin and potato harvests some people get from their compost piles can be huge. Also, only uncomposted manure can 'burn' plants, not finished compost.
Hurray for compost. It fixes a world of garden woes. I had to laugh at your Crocosmia problem...I can't get enough and they grow so sparsely for me but I know what you mean about problem plants. We have perennial sweet peas that are a menace around here and if I see one popping up in my garden I am quite vicious about pulling them out!
Why use a peat free mix?
Because I don't advocate for using peat at all. It's unnecessary and highly destructive to the land and air - despite what people hear from greenwashing campaigns in North America.
My whole garden is this 😩
A truck load of compost should sort you out :) Just use it as a 1-2 inch mulch and it will work wonders. You don't have to dig it in to help improve your soil.
I read that sage and thyme are NOT companion plants, thats probably why they do not touch.
Damn mine is way worse than hers that little pitchfork wouldnt go down more than an inch. I had to use a pickaxe. Its full of weeds and after that its just rocky crap. I cleared, out down compost cardboard and newspaper and shredding, mulched it then put down a ton of moses in a cradle. They kept the weeds at bay. Then I just remove them and out in whatever plants I want.
how to you keep your cat from using the garden bed as a litter box ?
Keeping them filled with plants is the only way I've found that works. I also used netting at the old house and that kept Maggie out of the beds until the plants filled it.
Add a bunch of earth worms. Let them do the work for you.
Add compost and worms will arrive on their own.
Wouldn't the original dry soil be just the thing for those plants? Sage and thyme are mediterranean herbs that suffer in moist conditions...
Sage and thyme do very well in moist soil, providing that it's well drained. That's what my plants were growing in previously. Planting them in that poor dry soil without amending it would have probably killed them.
Adding compost is fine, but you are not improving the quality of the original soil in the pit.
What I' am suggesting is not a quickfix(will probably take a couple of months).
You could sprinkle around 20 litres of buttermilk for the area in the video, cover the soil with kitchen waste, any othetorganic waste, release a few hundred earthworms in the soil and cover it with it with a thick cloth. The cloth will ensure darkness in the soil and the earthworms will feel safe to keep working the surface even during the day. You will need to water every 3 days to maintain the moisture in the soil.
This will actually improve the the original soil that was in the bed.
Adding compost is the easiest way to add bulk and nutrients to the soil. Bulk, as in organic matter that absorbs moisture, yet creates air pockets. Nutrients, as in everything that soil microbes and worms need to live, long term. Add compost, and worms will appear on their own. What you suggest sounds like a recipe for stink and faff. The kitchen waste could be composted or vermicultured elsewhere and then added, as I suggest.
Compost,
who puts windows on a shed. Bark Bark
I know...don't tell me....put some water on it....was I right??..🤣🤣🤣
thats too much compost used there
Wrong
There’s plenty of plants that love dry soil. It doesn’t have to be “fixed”
Let say I have insanely dry soil and it’s hard! 🐁
Let say I pour water on it, how deep will the water go into the soil? 🦡
To give me an idea how much I should water my backyard in the dry and desert like California 🌳
In desert-like conditions I'd use drip line irrigation and a mulch layer over the soil to lock moisture in. Mulch being composted wood chip or garden waste. Pouring water on sand without taking measures to keep it from evaporating off would be a waste of time and water.
I love composting. I just harvested a few bucket fulls yesterday to mulch around my beds.