There is no doubt that mycorrhizae fungi play an important role in plant growth. They help aggregate the soil which in turn provides plant roots with better access to water and oxygen. Their symbiotic relationship with plants helps them access water and nutrients. It is only natural that companies want to sell these fungi to you. Don’t fall for it.
Every gardening book and web site recommends that you get your soil tested and one of the main tests is for pH. You can get a professional lab to do the test, or you could use one of the convenient soil pH test kits made for gardeners. How useful and accurate are the results of such tests? It is more complicated than you think. Let’s have a close look.
Rock dust is a very popular soil additive especially with organic and permaculture groups. It is full of nutrients and it is claimed that adding it to soil will replenish all of the nutrients that agriculture has taken out of our soil. This process of adding nutrients back to soil is known as mineralization.
This seems to make a lot of sense. We remove food from the land, and the food contains lots of minerals. At some point we need to put them back into the soil or else we will have soil that won’t grow anything. This seems logical but is it really true? Is our soil losing fertility? If it is deficient, can rock dust be used to solve the problem? How effective is rock dust and which type of rock works the best? Time to crush some myths about rock dust.
Almost everyone recommends getting a soil test, including most gardening web sites, USA extension offices and gardening experts. I disagree!
There are good reasons for getting a soil test, but the general advice of getting regular soil tests for homeowners does not make sense. Here’s why.
We all know cedar chests repel moths and cedar shavings are routinely used in homes to control insect pests. Based on this, gardeners have concluded that cedar mulch will repel insects in the garden and will negatively impact pollinators trying to get to flowers. For these reasons they recommend you should not use cedar mulch.
Is there any science to support these claims? Does it harm bees? Does it affect ants and termites?
Should you stop using cedar mulch?
Mycorrhizal Inoculant products have been around for more than 10 years but the number of products available is rapidly growing. Clearly manufacturers are finding customers willing to pay for these products, but are they worth the money? Do they work? Are companies able to provide solid evidence that their products work?
I have done an investigation and you will be surprised by the results.
Gardeners have come to understand that the microbe population in soil is critical for healthy soil and healthy plants. There is also tremendous chatter on blogs and in social media about “doing the right thing” to increase microbe populations. Companies have packaged microbes to produce garden “probiotics”. Just sprinkle a bit on your soil and watch the magic happen. So I think we can agree that gardeners should take care of their existing microbes and work on increasing their numbers.
More microbes = healthier soil = happier plants
But ….. there is a catch. How does the gardener measure the current microbe population? If you can’t measure it today, how do you know that you have increased the population over time? How do you know which method of soil improvement worked the best?
Do purchased probiotics work the best? How about compost tea, or weed tea? Does compost alone work?
Without a method for measuring microbes, you are flying blind. In this post I will discuss some lab methods, some DIY methods and some new technology that is just coming on the market.
Lead is a toxic heavy metal that can be very harmful to your health. It has been used in a lot of products including paint, gasoline and cans of food. Lead levels in soil found along roads is higher than in soil located farther from the road and some people won’t grow vegetables in a front yard for this reason.
One reason people use raised beds is to grow food in soil that is not contaminated with lead. Is normal garden soil really a problem? Does the purchased soil that is used to fill the raised bed have lower levels of lead?
Should lead levels in produce be a concern and does organic food have less lead?
What is the difference between straw and hay? I am always surprised at all of the misinformation that is spread whenever discussions start about using straw or hay in the garden. Which one has more weeds? Do they improve soil? Are lingering herbicides a problem? Should either be used in the garden?
The answers to these questions are quite simple if you first eliminate the myths and that is what I’m going to do in this post.
As part of my research on soil products I became aware of the fact that most garden soil is not garden soil. If it is not soil what is it?
Sandy soil can be a difficult place to garden. It dries out quickly. It lacks nutrients. The amount of microbial life is very low. But it is easy to dig. It is claimed that clay can be added to sandy soil to improve it’s qualities but does this really work?
Adding clay to sand is a popular technique in some places like Australia and China, but it is not used very much in North America. Why is that?
There are many different kinds of clay – which one is best?
