The Conservational Gardener

By Nanny Fontanella

The gardener up to her neck
in the good earth

We bought our house and three acres of grass about 14 years ago when our daughter was nine. She had a brief love affair with the country and then walked into the kitchen one day to announce very loudly, “I hate dirt!” This, of course, posed an immediate problem as I am enamored of dirt. My hands get itchy around January and I’ve been known to plunge them into a houseplant for relief.

The truism that a garden is only as good as its dirt has caused soil anxiety and complexes in many area residents. We look south, view the black dirt of Orange county and wonder if all the good stuff has washed down the mountains or leached into the Delaware.

Put away the soil test kits and listen up! Our clay soil is as good as anybody else’s; lean soil promotes less disease. Everything’s in there, but compacted soil engenders acidity, which prevents a lot of plants from accessing nutrients. Aeration is the key, so while preparing this year’s garden, hold the tiller and get out the shovel and make sure it’s sharp.

I remember my mother saying; “As you make your bed...you lie in it.”

If my bed is rectangular or square, I dig a recessed cross design for a path that will enable me to weed, cultivate and harvest without walking on the garden area. If I am preparing a border, I make it narrow enough so I can garden from both sides.

I start at the furthest reaches of the area I intend to cultivate, dig a shovelful and shake, rattle and roll vigorously, depositing weeds in one pail and rocks in another. Have you heard of weed and feed? I weed and seed or, more accurately, weed and transplant. After I dig a row, I add pulverized limestone, leaf mold, sand, compost, rotted manure, greensand, bone meal, epson salt or whatever’s on hand. Even outdated vitamins will do. Then, I put plant cups (see last week’s column) in a diagonal pattern or sprinkle seed in hills (see diagram). I keep going till the quadrant is complete.

I make sure a CD is playing so I don’t burn out too fast and move to the next area. After all four quadrants are finished, I usually bite my husband’s head off because I’m hot, hungry, thirsty and resentful. But after dunking my head under cold water and eating something, I’m ready to mend fences (marriage ones, that is), and I say to myself, “You’ve worked damn hard and it was worth it! Or was it? We’ll see....”

	Contributed image A platform garden can display container plants or seedlings. (Click for larger image)

Digging is not for you? Well perhaps a raised bed is more your style. Build it as large and high as you can. Railroad ties, bricks, cement blocks or stones all make great walls. Fill it with anything that doesn’t move too fast. If you know a farmer with a dump truck you’ve got it made.

Container gardening offers unlimited possibilities. Old pails, pots, pans, boxes or chamber pots are cheap and trashy chic. It’s helpful but not necessary to refresh the soil in your containers every year with a few of the additives previously mentioned.

Are you on good terms with someone who can hammer things together? Then a waist-level platform garden (see diagram) will work for you. It’s easy on the back and will outwit any varmint hanging around (the four legged variety, that is).

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, “Ask Nanny” at asknanny@riverreporter.com.