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Gardening

Soil Texture In Growing Vegetables

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The texture of the soil in growing vegetables, should not be so open as to leave air pockets, because the roots have minute hairs through which they absorb moisture and dissolved plant foods. These foods are needed in addition to carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Chief of these is nitrogen, supplemented by phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulphur and a long list of other minerals usually known as the minor elements. Only the merest trace of some of them may be necessary, but if, for example, beets are grown in a soil completely devoid of boron, the plants are apt to be stunted and blotched and the roots discolored and watery. The absence of an iron fraction in the soil may mean yellowed leaves and inefficient growth.

When some corn plants were analyzed, it was found that 70 per cent of their weight was water. They were then dried and the remainder was found to be as follows:

Oxygen 44.57% Carbon 43.70 Hydrogen 6.26 _____ 94.53%

Nitrogen 1.46 Silicon 1.17 Potassium .92 Calcium .23 Phosphorus .20 Magnesium .18 Sulphur .17 Chlorine .14 Aluminum .11 Iron .08 Manganese .03 Sodium and other elements .78 _____ 5.47%

*The magnesium in this analysis would amount to less than 3 ounces in 100 pounds. Other plants would show different ratios of the constituents, but the range would be equally wide.

Is the soil then a mass of minerals? By no means. Nor can the rootlets absorb raw rpineral elements. Of the fertile top soil, on which plants chiefly depend, disintegrated rock forms 65 to 95 per cent of the mass, and organic matter 2 to 5 per cent. The rest is soil air and soil water, which holds salts of the minerals in solution. Nor is the soil an inert mass; there are more plants and animals in it than there are above it. Except for the industrious earthworms and insects, they are microscopic, mostly bacteria.

As organic matter breaks down, with the aid of all of these, ammonia is released. It is turned into acid which unites with mineral bases to form nitrates which in solution, can be taken up by the roots as plant food. The beneficial bacteria in the soil require oxygen, which is another reason for tillage. Conversely, there are other bacteria which attack the nitrates and waste the nitrogen (from the gardener’s point of view) by releasing it into the air. These bacteria operate only in soils deficient of oxygen, usually wet soils from which the proper supply of plant food is missing. Therefore, a wet soil is to be avoided or drained when a garden is planned.

 

Gardening

Successful Growing Of Vegetables

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As soil breaks down over time the race of bacteria must be noticed – the beneficial nitrogen-fixing type that live on the roots of legumes such as peas and beans. If you pull up a flourishing pea or bean plant, you will notice a number of little nodules or lumps on the roots. Here the bacteria are at work making more nitrogen than they need for themselves, and on this surplus nitrogen the plant depends for supplies.

Accordingly, if peas or beans are new to your garden, the seed should first be inoculated with a culture of the proper bacteria. This is a simple operation, since the inoculant can be bought as a black powder for a few cents and merely needs to be shaken through the seeds before they are sown.

Obviously, the soil is a highly complex body. Nature, which is not pressed for time, may have taken a million years making it fertile with plant food materials. Man comes along and quickly robs this fertility by intensive cultivation, so that it must be rebuilt yearly by the application of organic material such as manure and compost, supplemented by inorganic fertilizers which supply, in readily accessible form, some of the chemicals mentioned above, built up in the soil much more slowly by natural processes.

Even a casual observer will notice by the difference in the color of soils from black to red, that they vary considerably in their constituents. Whether these elements are in proper balance and in, sufficient supply for satisfactory plant growth cannot be determined by smell, sight or touch; a chemical test is necessary. This is one of the first things to be done in the early spring. A home soil-testing set is inexpensive and interesting, but samples will also be tested, usually free of charge, by your state agricultural experiment station. Your local seed store will give you the address and tell you just what to do. You should receive a report from the station within a week or two indicating what, if anything, your soil requires.

In sum, therefore, the A, B and C of successful vegetable gardening are good seed, good light and good soil. Given these, your plants should come up healthy and strong – but so will the weeds, often from seeds that have been deep in the soil for many years. They must be scuffled down when they are small, before they enter into competition with your vegetables. Afterwards, a mulch, or thick layer of grass clippings, leaves or straw, should be spread around. This will not only keep the pesky weeds from coming up, but will help to conserve essential moisture in the soil and to maintain an even soil temperature.