Amending straight Florida sand into a usable gardening soil
Matt Barnett
5 years ago
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Matt Barnett
5 years agoRelated Discussions
To amend or not to amend? Clay soil...
Comments (22)"It seems that it is highly recommended to plant peach trees in raised beds from the experience on this board. Does anyone have a good link or more detailed directions as far as how to do that? What type of soil do I need? How deep do I dig the hole? How high should the bed be?" For my peach trees I use mounds and terraces. It doesn't seem to make a difference how tall the mound is. Some of my mounds are 1' tall, others started out 4' tall (before settling). The peach trees do about the same either way. Some people enclose their raised beds with a raised border of some kind. I think that's fine too. I don't think it makes much difference what soil you use for the raised beds/mounds. Several years ago, I installed drain tiles in the orchard area (The drainage was horrid and I was tired of losing peach trees.) In places we had to excavate to a depth of 4' to install the tile. What we dug out was pure clay. I used this material for some of the mounds. The peach trees have done fine in the clay mounds. Per the above posts, I would only use mounds if the drainage is poor. But since you mention puddling, I strongly suspect you could benefit from raised beds/mounds. Mounds not only provide good drainage, they also loosen the dirt so there is minimal resistance for the roots to spread. Mulching on top keeps the soil moist longer into the growing season, further encouraging root growth. It's hard for peaches not to succeed when they have moist (but not overly wet) loose soil with no weed competition and plenty of sunshine. Here's a picture that's a couple years old. You can see some tall and shorter mounds. Some of the older trees aren't in mounds. The drainage tile helped them. Here's a pic of some terraces I built last fall for planting peaches this spring. By the way, I don't bother with mounds for more water tolerant trees like apple, pear and plum, unless the drainage is really bad....See MoreCat Litter as Possible Soil Amendment for Sand?
Comments (18)The county yard waste facility does not separate leaves from branches. I *could* get the leaves from them. But it would be at least 50% coarse wood chips, which are worse than useless since they both use nitrogen as they decay AND hold even larger air spaces in the soil than the unadulterated sand. They don't even call the stuff compost. They call it mulch and mulching paths is all its good for. The pine straw that I have in great abundance is far superior as a mulch for trees and landscape plantings and even in parts of the garden. But its just as useless as a soil amendment since resinous, 8-12-inch pine needles don't decompose any faster than coarse wood chips. When I lived in Massachusetts I had leaves in overwhelming abundance and they worked splendidly in the sandy soil (technically unsorted glacial till), I had there. This sand here is far different geologically being closer to washed-quartz play-sand than to the richer glacial till, ecologically with few deciduous trees, and climatologically with months on end of hot, humid weather burns organic material out of the soil with tremendous speed -- after 3 months I can barely detect any difference between the sections of garden where DH tilled in an inch of compost (all we had), and the fresh areas. Which is why I was inquiring about adding clay via cat litter because what worked in other places I've lived is either unavailable or less effective here. :-)...See MoreAny Florida composters here? Beach sand soil?
Comments (10)I live in North Central Florida, I have some shade areas but mostly full sun. People around here have the same complaints, heat and humid is unreal, soil is pure sand and the weeds never give up. The main difference is that we also have to contend with more freezes in the winter time. Sounds like you are on the right track with your garden and you are absolutely right about mulch and nematodes. You need to think of the top layer as mulch, dry and not much composting going on here. Next is semi composted material, then fully composted, then final native soil. The idea is trying to mimic what happens on a forest floor. If you want to cheat, use 4" pinebark mulch. Bark breaks down very slowing and is good for inhibiting weed seed germination. Natives are great, but a lot of times they require a very specific microclimate. You provide that climate and they grow like weeds which essentially they are. Perennials that are for hot humid climates will also do well. Since you are into butterflies and bees, here are some plants that you should have success with. Perennial types of salvia for hot humid climates, for instance varieties within these species guaranitica , van houttie and coccinea, but there are many others. You can't beat lantana, you want to go for the seedless more dwarf varieties. Nothing is a better than Hamelia patens Firebush as a hummingbird attractant. Shrimp plant is another good sturdy plant. Cone flowers can be hard to establish, if I can get one to survive and then it seeds, the seedlings are what become longer lasting. I don't have success with store bought marigolds. As far a daisy like plants, you need to use Florida adapted varieties, I have Rudbeckia goldstrum (but you might be too far south for it), beach daisy, perennial sunflowers. Summer can be our down time for flowers. Many northern annuals, we grow in the winter and spring. For roses my favorites come from the old rose classes of Chinas, Teas, and Noisette. Just a word of warning, the further south you go, the faster these grow. For instance the variety Mrs B.R. Cant may exceed 4 ft in all direction in just the first year and should be almost not stop blooming. At the end of 2 years it could be 6'x6'. Most of the plants that I use are Florida heirloom varieties. Plants that have proven hardiness by the test of time. Just because they sell plants in local stores doesn't mean that they will grow in your yard. Once you figure out what works for your garden, you will love Florida gardening. Its year 'round and you should always have something in bloom....See MoreThe fastest draining soil on earth
Comments (44)A side note about wood chips and sawdust and how bad an effect they have on things growing. I had/have a depression in my yard where a tree used to be, with remains of the trunk cut down to just about ground level. I'd been meaning to level it out - more to make it less of a hazard for tripping - and had some plain sawdust around for some reason, quite fine, not composted at all. I dumped that in there - two to five inches worth depending - and added a bit of garden soil later when I had some (not much actual soil). Recently, only a few months later I was overseeding patchy bits of the lawn nearby, and tossed some grass seed overtop that spot. A week later, and the grass has sprouted there strongly and grown in pretty well. The spot still looks mostly like sawdust. This area received little to no 'treatment' except for some extra water at first and some, ahem, human nitrogen contributions. Now I'm not going to claim this would make it suitable as a growing medium for vegetables or all plants, but it seems to me a different result from what one generally hears, about the fear that sawdust and woodchips will 'tie up' nitrogen and make it impossible for anything to grow there. YMMV, and I"ll grant the conditions have been pretty good lately, warm but frequent rains, cool but not cold at night. Overall though I've had similar experiences with sawdust and fine wood chips, doesn't interfere with plants and seems to get integrated quickly, absorbs and releases moisture well. From some other experience, I find sawdust and similar mostly indistinguishable from soil - almost unidentifiable unless looking for it -within about a year (and that's with long cold winters). Most of the time I'm not doing thick layers, mind....See Moregardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
5 years agoIrving Ragweed (Austin 8b)
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Irving Ragweed (Austin 8b)