Why do so many people "buy" soil?
ahappy camper zone10
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoahappy camper zone10 thanked naturegirl_2007 5B SW MichiganRelated Discussions
How many people actually perform a soil test?
Comments (10)How necessary a soil test may be depends a lot on your perception of the existing soil quality and fertility and what you intend to grow. If new to a location or garden, I generally suggest at least a baseline test to determine pH and average fertility. This at least will provide a starting point to determine if you need to amend the soil before planting or not. If one is only planting ornamentals, additional testing is probably unnecessary. Routine mulching/topdressing or adding organic matter (like compost) periodically will ensure that soil fertility is maintained and any supplemental fertilization will be indicated by plant performance - if everything is growing well, carry on! If one is growing edibles or harvestable crops as opposed to just landscape ornamentals, periodic soil testing maybe more appropriate. These crops do remove nutrients from the soil as they are harvested or removed each season and that is often not fully compensated for just by adding mulch or compost. Often supplemental fertilzation is very necessary and that can be most easily addressed by having a new soil test done every few years to determine what is lacking or deficient. To expand on a couple of Ken's comments :-) Fertilizer manufacturers and suppliers, like Scotts or Miracle Gro, are in the business of selling their product. They would like you to believe that your garden will be a failure unless you use their product on a regular and frequent basis. This is a bunch of BS!! Too frequent or excessive fertilization is often worse than not fertilizing at all. It produces lush, rapid growth that is often weak and prone to insect and disease issues, plants are often far less drought tolerant and require more frequent watering and the excessive fertilizer chemicals leach in to groundwater and streams and contibute heavily to pollution. And trees DO pull or remove nutrients from the soil, so new plantings close to the root zones of large established trees may need additional attention. Very often, this is most easily addressed by incorporating organic matter - like compost - into the area before planting and mulching on a regular basis thereafter....See MoreWhy do so many plant nurseries lie to their customers?
Comments (63)This is kind of off topic of the thread, but sunleafmoon if you had species of plants native to your area planted, then you got natives, grafted or not. The differences you are noticing between the planted natives and the naturally occurring natives in your area are most likely due to their provenance or as you suspect with the Dogwoods, possibly specific cultivars being planted. You can get native species planted on your property, but they could be grown from seed collected in a far off part of that species native range and thus you might notice differences between them and the ones naturally occurring in your area. Cultivars can also originate from seed grown plants from far off areas(to your area) of the species native range or represent extreme forms/mutations of the species. So, it sounds like you wanted local provenance native trees planted, but you probably got non-local provenance native trees planted. It's uncommon(at least here in Eastern Kansas) for locally native tree species found in nurseries to be grown from local provenance trees. Most are shipped in from a wholesale nursery out of state and the wholesaler grows them from seed collected in their local area or they grow them from seed from wholesale seed companies who collect them from who knows where. Smaller local nurseries(I've found most all of these are started by former farmers or people who grew up on a local farm) and local nurseries who specialize in natives seem to grow much more of their trees from local provenance seed sources....See MoreWhy do many people here recommend throwing away the jars?
Comments (6)[I have old canning jars that my parents used and I'm sure some stuff spoiled in them. After Dad died I found some stuff that my Mom had canned 15 years earlier! Water bath I'm sure. I dumped them, put them in the dishwasher, boiled them and reused. ] first off, you didn't have to dump the old stuff simply because of the age. if there were some OTHER reasons such as the standard reasons one would throw away spoiled canned foods then feel free but they have dug up foods that have been canned over 150 years old and tests confirmed they were as fresh and edible as the day they were canned. Meat was left out hanging in antarctica for 100 years and was still edible. Honey was dug up that was over 5000 years old and was as fresh as today's honey. just because of the age, you don't have to throw it away. if you can it properly then you can almost keep it forever. and what bugs me the most is the "sell by date" on a box of salt. the salt you are using has been in existence for over 4 billion years and they are trying to fool you into thinking that it only lasts a couple years before going bad? what about the rest of the 4 billion years?...See MoreHow do Mean people have so many friends?
Comments (60)Last week I saw a list of top 10 careers that have the most sociopaths/psychopaths and lawyer was high on the list. The litigator relative sounds like he fits in well with this group. You cannot change sociopathy or shame these people into better behavior. Look up narcissist personality disorder, for instance. Many entertainers/celebrities and politicians, etc. fall into this disorder. They can be charming personalities, but are toxic and selfish to no end. Avoid these people. Unfortunately, not many people have guts enough to get evil relatives out of their family get-togethers. There are many reasons for behaviors and choices people make: negative/dangerous personality disorders, or autism-spectrum disorders which cause people to not understand "polite" social rules, abuse and neglect from childhood, damage from past bullying, maintaining a bad attitude/complaining or choosing an attitude of optimism/gratitude, lack of education, a reaction to loss, or just a mental disorder not of their own choosing. It's a matter of what family/environment/gene pool people are born into, with what abilities and attitudes and choices they make as life goes on. I use my judgment about other people's behaviors and words to gauge who I want in my life. People who work to be positive or move ahead regardless of what happens to them are at the top of my "welcome" list. Attitude is life and death to well-being, so I don't accept manipulations/negativity/gossip. My BFF and I help each other through our bad days and try to laugh through our difficulties when possible, but we also deal with our problems. Watch an episode of Hoarders and see how the hoarders live in a state of denial in the face of mountains of trash and stinky filth. Their mental health, maturity and choices as life has happened are reflected in their living conditions. Fascinating to see their thinking, but has to be hellish to live with....See Morenaturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan
4 years agoahappy camper zone10 thanked naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigangardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
4 years ago- ahappy camper zone10 thanked daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoahappy camper zone10 thanked daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoahappy camper zone10 thanked daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)ahappy camper zone10
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