Flower Garden Lovers

Making the Soil Better for the Flower Garden Part 1

Most gardeners know of the need for adding organic material to the soil in the flower garden. That is unless you are extremely blessed with the perfect soil. Being that most of us are not so blessed in our flower gardens, then adding organic matter is the way to go.

One of the best ways to add organic material to your soil is by simply keeping a layer of mulch around your plants. Not only does this help conserve water, keep down weeds, and keep the roots cool, for those plants that need it in the summer heat, but it is constantly being broken down and added to the soil. You will find that you will have to add constantly to your mulch, usually on a yearly basis. This will be a yearly spring task. Those who live in warmer and damper climates may find they must add to the mulch more often to maintain a certain depth.

This method can also be called sheet composting, although the depth of the sheet may not be as deep as your mulch around some plants. Sheet composting is much like what you get when trees lose their leaves in the fall or plants die and organic material is layered on the ground to be decomposed and added to the soil. Farmers use this method in spreading manure from barns upon their fields or when they run cattle upon their fields in the winter so as to catch all that good urine and manure. This builds nutrients in the soil and is certainly better than standing the cattle in a paddock, however large, all winter (unless they have a way of capturing the manure, unused hay and urine in that paddock.)

Some gardeners may add organic material between rows of flowers and plants. It will not only add nutrients to the soil and build the tilth of the soil but it will help keep weeds down if applied thickly enough. A vegetable gardener more often does this than a flower gardener as a flower garden does not usually have its flowers in set rows.

Part two of this article on composting and adding organic material to your flower garden will be posted to the website later this week.

© 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson

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© 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson. Find more articles for Flower Garden Lovers at our informative website, http://flowergardenlovers.com.
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