My Dirt Is Alive!!! {Did You Know Tuesday}

   There is over a million living organisms in 1 teaspoon of soil. Isn't that crazy?! Maybe even a little creepy. That means that there is 768 million organisms in one gallon of soil. That's alot. But keep in mind that some are good and some are bad - so you don't want to go and kill them ALL. You want the good ones to hang around.

   "Kill them?" You may ask. "How would I even do that?" Well, a major con about buying potting soil at the store is that there are no live organisms in it. They burn out all the organisms with heat. The reason they do it is to get rid of the bad organisms that might make your plants sick or die, but they kill the good organisms in the process. Poor little guys! :( Those good organisms will make your plant thrive, and will make them healthy. What I like to do instead is use rich soil from the yard (along with a little sand or coconut coir for drainage) and make sure I feed it with good organisms - usually in the form of compost from the pile. Or if you do use potting soil, be sure to add some finished compost in.

   Next time you dig in the dirt, say hi to all your organism friends ;-)

How Plants Eat {Did You Know Tuesday}

   You have probably heard people say: "Mix the compost down deep into the soil and always soak the plants well when applying fertilizer to help it get down to the roots."
 

   Hold it! Compost and fertilizers (I'm biased to natural ones only) are great for the plants, but there's a catch. Do this. #1 Dig a 3 foot hole somewhere NOT in your garden. #2 look at the layers of dirt. #3 Make note of what layers look like they have the most nutrients and goodies for the plants....wait a minute! The dirt close to the top (aka "topsoil") is much more rich looking than the other layers. They other layers seem to get more and more progressively nutrient-less looking. Aha! Nature strikes again! Plants that grow naturally have these layers of dirt - I bet God put them there for a reason! In actuality, plants have their nutrient-gathering roots right under the surface of the soil. So, when leaves fall on the forest ground - and when animals poop! - it all decomposes on the TOP of the dirt. So don't worry if you don't have a monster for a rototiller - all you really need to do is break up the very top surface to pull up some of the weeds and to loosen the soil to plant the seeds in.

   As an extra tidbit know that each footstep in the garden applies 6-10lbs of pressure per square inch, so another reason that people like to rototill deep is to break up all the hard layers. Need a suggestion? Either rototill it, or have set pathways that you use every year and you won't scare away your worms!

This post is linked to:

Good Bugs? {Did You Know Tuesdays}

 

YES! There is such thing as good bugs.

   To name just a few there are lady bugs, bees, the tachinid fly, minute pirate bug, hoverfly, parasitic wasp, big-eyed bug, and lacewigs.

   You know, some bugs are good for the garden, and some bugs are bad for it.
        1. Some "good" bugs help pollinate your plants. Without pollination, you won't get as many fruit on your plants, or worse, not any at all. Most people realize that especially bees play a major part in this. Take good care of your bees. Their numbers have been dropping drastically in the past few years. Some believe this is due to GMO soybean crops.

        3. Some "good" bugs eat weeds. Isn't that nifty? Many "bad" bugs too though, so it can be hard to tell which one is which.

       2. Some "good" bugs' diets consist of the bad bugs. It's nature's cycle. They lay their eggs on the "bad" bugs who are trying to take bites out of your veggies and the "good" bugs eat those nasty boogers when they hatch.

   "That's all great," you may be saying. "But how do I get these bugs to come hang out in my garden?" Glad you asked!!! I'll tell you.

   ~First of all you want some dead leaves or a near-by compost pile for them to live in.
   ~Second of all they need some "bad" bugs to eat.
   ~Thirdly you'll want to grow some plants that attract the "good" bugs. There are quite a few of them, but I'll try to list just a couple that seem more common. Alfalfa, anise hyssop, caraway, clover, dandelion, dill, dwarf alpine aster, English lavendar, fennel, gloriosa daisy, goldenrod, hairy vetch, lemon balm, marigold, parsley, Queen Anne's lace, spearmint, sweet alyssum, tansy, yarrow, and zinia. Phew! And that's only a few! Each plant attracts their personal variety of beneficial insects, so I'll leave you now to do your research.

----------------------
P.S. Yes, I know. It's not Tuesday. I haven't been able to post on blogger for days for some weird reason. Even now I'm wondering if it's going to work this time....