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Comments please on recommendations
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Posted by reg_pnw7 WA 7 sunset 4 (My Page) on Thu, Jan 26, 12 at 22:37
| I've been reading some very old gardening books and would like to get your all comments on some of the things recommended. To start with, some respected gardeners from late 19th cent England recommend that when planting roses, the planting hole should be dug down 3-4 feet. The top soil, which they call 'top spit', should be put aside, and then the subsoil should be dug up and loosened thoroughly and replaced where it was. Once the subsoil is loosened and replaced, then you are to add a layer of composted cow manure, and then a layer of the top soil mixed with chopped-up turf (fresh, not composted, the stuff that was growing where the hole is now), and then you put your plant's roots on top of all that, with unamended top soil around its roots.
The idea being that loosening the subsoil allows the groundwater to percolate upwards through capillary action to the roots, carrying nutrients from the layer of manure with it.
Does this work, do you think? Current recommendations from horticulturalists are to not dig planting holes any deeper than the rootball, to avoid the plant settling in loosened soil. And what about that layer of manure? it sounds to me like they mean a layer of pure manure, not mixed with soil.
Some of them also recommend keeping the soil surface cultivated to prevent evaporation of soil water from the surface, by disrupting capillary action. I've heard of dryland farmers doing this to retain soil moisture, so I guess it works. |
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RE: Comments please on recommendations
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Those English gardeners had some really fantastic gardens, but whether what they did was good depends on many things. Here, even in mid summer, I could not dig down 3 to 4 feet without hitting the water table and having the hole I am digging at least partially fill with water, in some places that depth would be around 8 to 12 inches.
Many people have had very good results growing roses, and many other plants, by just amending the topsoil, the top 4 to 6 inches of soil, and not digging that deep or even double digging. Just my opinion, based on what I had done and seen over the last 50 years, is that deep digging may provide some immediate benefit but long term does not really do much.
Other than simply stating that any soil will benefit by the addition of adequate levels of organic matter, in the top 4 to 6 inches of soil, where the Soil Food Web is most active, is the best thing anyone can do. |
RE: Comments please on recommendations
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| I think it's going to depend also on the type of soil and the climate (dry, wet, etc.). Beyond that, I don't know a darn thing about roses. Do the 'rose people' have any constructive thoughts on this? |
RE: Comments please on recommendations
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- Posted by jolj 7b/8a-S.C.USA (My Page) on
Fri, Jan 27, 12 at 19:11
Your first paragraph is the way I plant all my large plants.
I even plant tomatoes that way, but with annuals, I leave a shallow dish to caught & hold water. |
RE: Comments please on recommendations
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| But would loosening the subsoil really allow groundwater to rise through capillarity better than it would have if you hadn't done anything? seems like the digging up would destroy the soil pores. |
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