Soil Cocktails

"A 50c plant in a $5.00 hole" is a saying most gardeners have heard. When you are planting its extremely important to amend your soil.

I like to think of it is a "soil cocktail". Given the amount of clay in my yard, area adding organic material to the soil is essential to the health (or life) of my plants. For every plant or shrub I install, I add a mixture of top soil, mushroom (or homemade garden) compost, and black cow. I like to scoop the materials straight from the bags and toss them in a large plastic pot before mixing them with the soil I've removed while digging my hole. I sometimes also layer my cocktail mixture and the original hole's dirt as part of the planting job.

I often end up with extra soil from the original hole that I dug out (Not sure if anyone else has this problem). I used to have a hard time disposing of all of my "extra dirt". Recently, I've starting using it to make my ring shaped mounds around my plants to help them capture and hold water. Clay works especially well for this purpose since its easily molded.

Got any planting to soil amendment tips? Click comment below and let's hear 'em!

Black Gold....Compost

Composting is a secret of many a respected gardener. It's also a great alternate for those, unlike my friends in Oakwood with a chicken coop (and poop), who are looking for sustainable ways to fertilize their plants!

Last year, we bought a composter from Neuse Works (unfortunately, they are closed currently, but some like models can be found at Logans and Atlantic Avenue Orchid Center). It was stand model which allowed for tumbling and easy mixing. It also composts quickly in a little about 30 days. It was love at first site.

If you're not up for a manufactured bin, consider this alternative...In Charlotte, we created our own composter using wire fencing fastened in a circular shape. We tossed the components with a pitch fork and it seemed to work. I recommend it as a cheaper alternate to see how you take to composting.

There are all kinds of composting formulas online, so I'm not going to repeat them here, but I will share a few tips from our brief composting tenure. I didn't grow up composting, so some of these may be "old hat" to those of you veterans.

• Keep a pail in your kitchen or fridge for food scraps (coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, fruit cuttings....) to minimize your trips to the bin.
• Place your bin as conveniently as possible to your kitchen without it being an eye sore. (Originally, our's was next to our kitchen stoop which made frequent tumbling easy. We've since moved it to the back of the yard where it only receives weekend visitation)
• Newspaper and dryer lint can be used as "brown" materials in the summer when dead leaves aren't typically as abundant. This is really great since fresh scraps are so bountiful in the summer, but need to be balanced with brown materials.
• Heat and compost "tea" are normal. Expect them.
• You can add water to compost, if you need to in order to keep it damp.

With gas prices as they are, I'm looking for ways to save on everything. Composting is a great way to not only reduce your waste but also avoid a trip to the store for fertilizer or prepackaged compost.