By Shirley D. Smith, Somervell County Master Gardener
One of the very first things I learned when I took my Master Gardening training was the difference between “SOIL” and “DIRT”. It seems dirt is what you sweep out of your house while soil is what you garden in. There are different soil types in Somervell County. Some (probably most) of us do our gardening on top of rock while others (the lucky ones!) garden in sand or sandy loam. While both can be a challenge, it seems the soils on rock bring a special challenge. No matter what your soil type, there are certain criteria that are proven to bring excellent results no matter whether you are growing vegetables or flowers. Without getting all technical, let’s look at what makes up good soil. Good soil can be said to be a complex living system that envelopes the land like a skin.
To keep this article from getting all scholarly and too complex, let’s just think about what we walk on here in our county. Since I live on rock, I either have raised beds or have amended my flowerbeds with lots of compost. Ahhh, compost! That lovely stuff gardeners consider black gold. Definition: compost – decomposed organic matter rich in nutrients. You can buy compost either by the truckload or bagful. Every spring I dump bags of the stuff in my beds and then till it into the soil. If I have already existing plants, I just put a 2+ inch of it around the particular plant and then gently hand till that in. I love it when I turn over a spadeful of soil and there are big, juicy earthworms. Earthworms are a sign of nutritious soil.
If you have plants that just don’t seem to be doing well, then perhaps you need to do a soil test and see what that soil consists of. You can get a soil test kit from our local Extension Office (254 897 2809). There is a small cost for this service, but it would be well worth it to know what type of soil and nutrients you are dealing with.
There are many websites out there that will educate you more fully about what to do to improve your soil. Some of them are VERY technical while others offer a more practical and (pardon the pun) down-to-earth approach. I love to go to the Texas A&M website and search there for most of my questions. aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu. Then you can search for nutritious soil or some such description. This is always a good site to go to for gardening in Texas.
Happy gardening!