Rain, RAIN, RAIN!!! The only thing I can say is we need the rain and at least a lot of it has been slow and gentle. That’s just the kind of rain that can soak into the ground and do some good instead of creating runoff and causing problems with erosion. Nonetheless, I’m ready for it to stop.
Once the rain finally stops you’ll be able to get back into the garden and plant. After all this rain, however, be sure to check the soil before working it. If you work soil that is too wet you’ll destroy the soil’s structure, forcing all of the air out. This leaves the roots unable to do their job adequately and your plants may not do as well as you had hoped.
Soil structure, you say? What is soil structure? Well, soil structure refers to the pattern of solid particles and air spaces found in healthy soil. The soil’s structure controls the movement of air and water into and through the soil. The spaces between aggregates contain air and hold water and soluble plant nutrients, making them available to plant roots. There are many different soil structure patterns depending on how much clay is in the soil, how much organic matter there is in the soil and a few other factors.
Now, unless you’re a soil scientist, all you really have to know is that soil structure is important, and you don’t want to destroy it. Any time you till or cultivate the soil, however, you destroy the structure to some degree. Regular tilling, especially machine tilling with heavy machinery, changes the structure over time and this causes major changes in the microherd. (The microherd refers to all the bacteria, actinomycetes. fungi, protozoans, worms and other critters that live in the soil. There are between 100 million and one billion organisms in just one teaspoon of healthy soil.) Working the soil when it’s too wet is the absolute WORST thing that you can do, especially when the soil is basically clay, like we have.
The way to avoid working the soil when it’s too wet is to test it before starting to dig. Do this by taking up a handful of loose soil. Close your hand over the soil and squeeze lightly. Open your hand again. If the soil falls apart it’s either too dry or nearly pure sand. This almost never happens here. If it holds its shape, poke it lightly with a finger. If it falls apart when you poke it, it’s perfect to work, but if it doesn’t fall apart, it’s too wet.
Absolutely DO NOT work the soil until it dries some! If you do, you will destroy the soil structure, and your plants will suffer. The microherd that are trapped in that area will die from lack of oxygen and the microherd from the surrounding areas will have to work overtime infiltrating that area and restoring the structure. It could take many months.
Aside from not devastating the soil by working it when it’s wet, there are things that you can do to improve soil structure. The first, and one of the easiest is to add organic matter to the soil on a regular basis. The reason that you can’t add it once and be done is that we live in a mostly hot, humid climate. The organic matter that you add this season will be used up and reduced to humus within a short time leaving the soil in need of another shot of organic matter. So make it a habit to continually add organic matter to your soil. You can do this by regularly adding compost, worm castings or other organic materials, and by covering the soil with organic mulch and renewing it annually.
Now, when it’s dry enough for you to work the soil, what can you plant now? If you hurry you can get very early bearing tomato plants in and you might get fruit before the heat gets to be too much for the plants. Alternatively, you could plant some of the “heat set” plants during the first week in May and get fruit through the heat. These plants are designed to tolerate heat because their pollen does not deform when the temperature climbs. You could also hurry and plant hot peppers from seed and Swiss chard. Remember that Swiss chard is beautiful and can be planted among your flower beds with no problem.
Before mid-May you can plant bush or pole snap beans, sweet corn, and sweet pepper transplants. Any time during May you can plant Lima beans, cantaloupes, cucumbers, eggplant from seed or transplant, okra, peanuts, Southern peas, hot pepper transplants, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, summer squash, and watermelon.
These are probably the last days that you can work in the garden comfortably. The weather will get hotter and the humidity higher as the summer progresses.
Enjoy those last beautiful days and until next month,
Good Gardening, MaryAnn Armbruster
Once the rain finally stops you’ll be able to get back into the garden and plant. After all this rain, however, be sure to check the soil before working it. If you work soil that is too wet you’ll destroy the soil’s structure, forcing all of the air out. This leaves the roots unable to do their job adequately and your plants may not do as well as you had hoped.
Soil structure, you say? What is soil structure? Well, soil structure refers to the pattern of solid particles and air spaces found in healthy soil. The soil’s structure controls the movement of air and water into and through the soil. The spaces between aggregates contain air and hold water and soluble plant nutrients, making them available to plant roots. There are many different soil structure patterns depending on how much clay is in the soil, how much organic matter there is in the soil and a few other factors.
Now, unless you’re a soil scientist, all you really have to know is that soil structure is important, and you don’t want to destroy it. Any time you till or cultivate the soil, however, you destroy the structure to some degree. Regular tilling, especially machine tilling with heavy machinery, changes the structure over time and this causes major changes in the microherd. (The microherd refers to all the bacteria, actinomycetes. fungi, protozoans, worms and other critters that live in the soil. There are between 100 million and one billion organisms in just one teaspoon of healthy soil.) Working the soil when it’s too wet is the absolute WORST thing that you can do, especially when the soil is basically clay, like we have.
The way to avoid working the soil when it’s too wet is to test it before starting to dig. Do this by taking up a handful of loose soil. Close your hand over the soil and squeeze lightly. Open your hand again. If the soil falls apart it’s either too dry or nearly pure sand. This almost never happens here. If it holds its shape, poke it lightly with a finger. If it falls apart when you poke it, it’s perfect to work, but if it doesn’t fall apart, it’s too wet.
Absolutely DO NOT work the soil until it dries some! If you do, you will destroy the soil structure, and your plants will suffer. The microherd that are trapped in that area will die from lack of oxygen and the microherd from the surrounding areas will have to work overtime infiltrating that area and restoring the structure. It could take many months.
Aside from not devastating the soil by working it when it’s wet, there are things that you can do to improve soil structure. The first, and one of the easiest is to add organic matter to the soil on a regular basis. The reason that you can’t add it once and be done is that we live in a mostly hot, humid climate. The organic matter that you add this season will be used up and reduced to humus within a short time leaving the soil in need of another shot of organic matter. So make it a habit to continually add organic matter to your soil. You can do this by regularly adding compost, worm castings or other organic materials, and by covering the soil with organic mulch and renewing it annually.
Now, when it’s dry enough for you to work the soil, what can you plant now? If you hurry you can get very early bearing tomato plants in and you might get fruit before the heat gets to be too much for the plants. Alternatively, you could plant some of the “heat set” plants during the first week in May and get fruit through the heat. These plants are designed to tolerate heat because their pollen does not deform when the temperature climbs. You could also hurry and plant hot peppers from seed and Swiss chard. Remember that Swiss chard is beautiful and can be planted among your flower beds with no problem.
Before mid-May you can plant bush or pole snap beans, sweet corn, and sweet pepper transplants. Any time during May you can plant Lima beans, cantaloupes, cucumbers, eggplant from seed or transplant, okra, peanuts, Southern peas, hot pepper transplants, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, summer squash, and watermelon.
These are probably the last days that you can work in the garden comfortably. The weather will get hotter and the humidity higher as the summer progresses.
Enjoy those last beautiful days and until next month,
Good Gardening, MaryAnn Armbruster
MaryAnn Armbruster, Ph.D.
MaryAnn Armbruster, Ph.D. is a certified Advanced Master Gardener and member of the Lafayette Parish Master Gardeners.
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