It ALL Starts with your Soil - Part I

"There is no spot of ground, however arid, bare or ugly, that cannot be tamed into such a state as may give an impression of beauty and delight," says Gertrude Jekyll. 

The "taming" gardening season starts now with attention to your soil.

Colorado Soil - News Flash - for new residents and first time gardeners, our soils differ from the moist, rich, "anything grows in it" soil found almost anywhere but the Rocky Mountain region. Your umbrella won't get much use either. 

This blog is a short primer on understanding our growing conditions and working in our drier, often limiting soil properties. My hope is to help you improve your soil (if that's your goal) and make smart, plant choices this gardening season.

In Part II I'll cover ways to improve your soil quality and drainage.

Colorado Soil:

Internet Photo

• Soil is a fascinating mixture of microscopic to larger forms of life (like earthworms, which are good in soil), plus varying amounts of air, water, decomposing living matter - also known as organic matter, and different sized soil texture particles or pores (three main types). 
• Particle sizes - think of sand, the largest soil particles sized like golf balls, next are the medium sized particles of silt, represented by marbles, and finally clay, the smallest particles which act more like layers of pennies in soil. Putting them all together with different percentages of the pore particles indicates how well plant roots will grow and thrive.
• Moisture drains more slowly in smaller pore spaced clay soils - so drowning plant roots can easily happen. Heavy clay soils are common along the Front Range. On the opposite end, sandy soils with large pore particles are fast draining, lose nutrients easily and dry out quickly. This condition is not as common as clay soils. 
• Plant roots need a good balance of all of these particles to allow water, air and organic matter to support existing landscape plants and your new plants this spring.
• The first step in correcting under performing soil is to figure out what you have.
• For a spot-on low tech structure "feel" test, squeeze a small handful of soil, add a little water. If the soil sticks together and makes a shiny, smooth ball that doesn't break apart, the soil is clayey (yes, we call it clayey). If the ball is less dense, a bit easier to move in your hand, it's probably a combination of sand and silt. A loose ball that easily breaks apart generally has more sandy particles. 
• If you're overly frustrated in dealing with clay soils, consider growing more native plants which often don't need as much sweat equity to improve drainage. Gardening in raised beds or containers is a good way to avoid the darn clay. You can always take up another hobby, maybe golf? Honestly, golf* can be very challenging and really, who can forego planting and caring for a tomato plant or two for homegrown BLT joy.
• Tilth is the catch all term on the quality of soil structure, texture and balanced pore space. Gardeners strive for great soil tilth. I'd give up chocolate for great tilth, oh dear, maybe not. 

Resources:

Colorado Gardening: Challenge to Newcomers 

The Living Soil

Managing Tilth Texture, Structure and Pore Space


*Full transparency - I like golfing and wasn't have bad at it back in the day. Life and circumstances change, so, at this time my clubs are collecting dust in the basement 😞.