Spring Gardening 2016 Post #1 Soil Prep

Getting to know your NEW Landscape

Gardening Tip #1:

Know your soil! Before moving into our new home I knew of the issues with the soils in this area, but it didn’t stop me from moving forward. I have never gardened in clay soils, with medium to poor drainage and a higher amount of baron, but I felt pretty comfortable that adding copious amounts of organic amendments and mixing them well with the native would be the best thing to do. 

The first photo shows the dark rich Amend by Kellogg's Garden Soils. I dug the hole and mixed the back fill in the wheel barrel, it worked prefect. 

The drainage test I did was okay, not great but okay. Now I know that it took 4 hours to move 8 inches of water, so I have a plan as to how to set my irrigation. 
I used this bag of Amend by Kellogg's Garden Products, this was developed for just these soils. The nutrients are perfect for the high desert soils, and they add rice hulls to help with drainage. I am planning on using the same product for mulching in the fall.
You can find this product at Lowe's and Home Depot for about $6.00 a bag.


Marnie Brennan, GardenCoach in Reno Nevada


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