Posted on 01/27/2012 10:40:54 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
I have a dear friend and neighbor who is elderly and not in the best of health. Day in and day out during gardening season she sits at her kitchen table and watches me work in my yard and garden, living vicariously through me. Once or twice a week I'll take her some vegetables and we discuss gardening, which was such an important part of her earlier years. You can see the love of gardening in her eyes every time we have a talk. I asked her one day to tell me the difference between dirt and soil. Soil, she stated matter-of-factly, was the ground that God provided to feed us well. Dirt, she continued, is what you have under your fingernails after you've worked in the soil. Pretty good description, if you ask me.
Actually, there is a difference that is considered a bit more scientific. Soil is a collection of minerals, air, water, animals and other living matter (and their wastes or decaying bodies) that accumulate in layers and become compacted over time. Indeed, soils are laid down in discrete layers and whose compositions vary over time and space. Soil is the diverse but integrated community of living and inanimate things that make up the ground beneath our feet.
So what exactly is dirt? It’s a group of runaways or kidnapped individuals that used to be part of the soil. Dirt can’t easily be associated with where it was born and grew up. In a sense, dirt is particles of soil that have been rendered anonymous. Sounds like my friend is even wiser than I ever imagined.
Did you know that each of the 50 US states have a State Soil? Neither did I. It was interesting that none of the soil types we have on our homestead or farm are the type that is Louisiana’s State Soil. (Note: you will need Adobe Acrobat to view each individual state in the list, but you do not need Acrobat to view the description of State Soils.)
In preparing for this weeks thread, I thought I had good knowledge of the 4 basic soil types of soil in the US. I remembered clay, silt, sand, and loam from Ag class in my days of FFA. There is also a little peat in the swampy areas here in Louisiana, but there is not enough peat in the US to register as a basic soil type. Well, I didn't know near as much as I first thought.
Did you know that soil is classified into different orders just like plants are classified into different types? Twelve different soil orders exist, and within these orders are different suborders. Soils are composed of different percentages of clay, sand and loam. Each type has different moisture, mineral and organic content. The environment where the soil is found plays heavily into the soil composition. It is well worth the time to read about soil classifications as written in eHow.com.
After determining the type of soil you are working with in your garden, you will need to test your soil before planting so that you can get the most out of all the hard work. I can't emphasize enough the importance of this step. You can spend a lot of money on fertilizers that will not be absorbed by your plants unless the pH of your soil is in the proper range.
Simple pH soil test kits are available at most garden centers and nurseries and can be easily performed following the directions on the kit. More detailed soil tests are available through your county's extension office. It may take a couple of weeks or more to get the results, so now is definitely the time to be contacting your extension service.
Please add any knowledge you have to the thread. Have you successfully amended your soil type to improve production? Any tips you've learned in working with your particular soil type? This is intended only as a jumping-off point. Please share and, above all, enjoy!
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
First sunny day here in Benderville in a couple of weeks and here I sit. The native soil here is what is left after the brick factories closed. It is a heavy clay due the Redwood trees and the annual rains. Most of the visitors to our garden want to know where we purchased the soil in the beds and I have to do a mini course on building soil structure. There are river bottoms here where the soil is several feet deep and most of it is in our dairy belt...
Wisconsin = Antigo
Well, what do you know? I looked at the very interesting soil page for my state, but (for the life of me) I don’t understand how a soil that is distributed over less than a quarter of the state can be designated the “state soil”. What do the rest of us have? Just plain dirt? Sounds political to me, but everything is political in Wisconsin these days. LOL
I have about 10 different kinds of soil just on my property, I think.
Wisconsin = Antigo
Well, what do you know? I looked at the very interesting soil page for my state, but (for the life of me) I don’t understand how a soil that is distributed over less than a quarter of the state can be designated the “state soil”. What do the rest of us have? Just plain dirt? Sounds political to me, but everything is political in Wisconsin these days. LOL
I have about 10 different kinds of soil just on my property, I think.
TGIF!
Warm weather let me finish our raised beds for our new garden - 13 in all, and a compost bin. Will fill them up next week - 50% trucked in dirt and 50% compost from our local community yard waste recycling program - 60,000 lbs/year from 36 acres - who knew!
Special thanks to FReeper DR for the heirloom seeds! (Arrived in the mail @ an hour ago.)
How about a list of YouTube gardening channels along with the gardening sites?
Garden on!
Good afternoon. 78deg here in the piney woods region of Texas. We are supposed to have sunny days ahead for a week or so. We had 4in of rain again two days ago, so we are in a drying out mode.
Sorry to hear of your loss.
Oh no! That is terrible. We used to heat our peacock shed with a kerosene heater OUTSIDE the pens. We “insulated” with plastic sheeting over the windows and outside the doors. We never had a problem. Our shed was an old stable that my husband replaced the doors with chicken wire doors and covered the areas above the solid sides with more chicken wire. It was servicable for the birds, though not pretty. We already had normal electric service out there. No lanterns needed.
I am so sorry about your poultry.
Thanks for the link JADB. Great info on soils. Love the weekly links, it will sure help to find info again.
We are still in relatively warm weather for Missouri, but still cold enough to be a deterrent to going outdoors for any length of time. I have a huge stack of seed catalogs, so am spending looking through them, and planning the garden.
I intend to start some seeds soon for container plants. That way I can get some things going for earlier harvest. That way if we have a cold snap I can bring them in.
Have a great week everyone. God Bless.
All my old charts have us in zone 5, but these new charts have us in zone 6. Does that mean that our temperature has gotten warmer? Or have they just changed the system, so that we have a new number for the same temperature?
Diana works for Jung Seeds, I believe. That is a very good source.
Sorry about you poltry loss.
Well, there are state birds even though there are probably dozens of birds in each state. It may be political ... the state soil of Louisiana starts about an hour west of me, but the state by far has more Mississippi River delta black clay-ish soil than the red hills of Ruston. I still thought it was interesting.
For those of us in the northern tier of states, glaciation has rendered multi;ple soil types. I have 5 types on my 40 acres in Upstate NY. Glaciers dropped a multitude of rocks in their retreat, leaving us to clean up the mess. One field is almost all sand, while the next one over is full of stones and rocks. You can likely get a soil map of your county at the extension office free - at least, mine was. It will tell you about the nature of each soil type and what it’s good for - or not. the extension office is a fountain of info. It’s a good source. Also good is your land grant college. sd
We're having a mild winter!
WOW - just wow!
This weather is absolutely weird. It rained to beat the band all morning (my driveway is still flooded) and at one point the outside temperature was higher than the inside temperature. It’s January - this is coastal Virginia, not the deep south or south west. It should not be 68 degrees here.
Oh Red, I’m so sorry. That’s awful. I truly hope arson can be ruled out.
My mayhaw trees are getting ready to bloom. I saw the first hints of white in the buds this morning.
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