Light Industrial Park Proposed for Yancey Mills - Crozet Gazette

Crozet gazette AUGUST 2008 s page 15
The drought of 2007 is still fresh
in our memories, not to mention
several other dry years in the recent
past. Although precipitation for
2008 has been running close to normal,
you never know when some
one is going to turn off the tap. So,
it’s not a bad idea to look at some
ways for us gardeners to deal with
erratic rainfall.
One of the most basic ways to
address water in your garden is by
improving the thing that retains it,
that is, soil. To me, and I would
guess to most gardeners, soil is the
least sexy aspect of our craft. The
mere mention of soil science and
amendments is enough to put me to
sleep. Nevertheless, bear with me for
a few minutes as we take a very brief
look into the dirt.
By Charles Kidder
Dealing with Drought
If you are either putting in a new
bed or a whole new garden, that’s
your golden opportunity to improve
your soil. Bringing in loads of topsoil
is the quick and dirty—pun
intended—method of starting a new
bed; however, it may not be the best
course of action. You’ll achieve better
results by incorporating organic
matter and fertilizer into your existing
soil. Granted, this is a major
undertaking, requiring tilling in four
inches of organic material into the
top eight inches of soil. If you are
seriously contemplating such a project,
I suggest you take a look at Tracy
DiSabato-Aust’s excellent book, The
Well-Tended Perennial Garden.
More realistically, most of us are
just trying to improve the soil structure
in our existing beds. Depending
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on the present organic content of
your soil—which can be revealed by
a test—you should add one or two
inches of compost to the surface
every three years or so. Ideally, this
should be scratched down into the
soil, but this is tricky around existing
plants, not to mention laborintensive.
Mulch helps to retain soil moisture,
and is best applied after the soil
has warmed up a bit and is thoroughly
moist. Too much mulch is
not good, so avoid the tendency to
add more just to freshen up its
appearance. Three inches should be
the maximum depth around woody
plants, two inches around perennials.
And in either case, the depth of
mulch around the crown or trunk of
the plant should be zero. Piling
mulch there can lead to rot and
death.
So, how about that precious commodity,
water? You’ve probably run
across plant descriptions that say,
“Once established, Plant XYZ is
very drought-tolerant.” Take the first
two words of that sentence to heart.
You must be prepared to provide a
reliable supply of water for the first
season of a perennial’s growth, and
ideally, two to three years for trees
and shrubs. This means about one
inch of water, either from the sky or
from a hose, every week from spring
through fall. And don’t trust your
eyes to judge how much falls during
a brief downpour. Put out a rain
gauge, even if it’s just an old tunafish
can. Just empty it once a week
to prevent mosquito breeding.
The one-inch-per-week rule is just
a rough average for most plants, and
is not meant to indicate the frequency
of watering, only the
amount. For the first month after
plants are in the ground, keep a
watchful eye on soil moisture.
Absent significant rainfall, you may
have to water every two or three
days, especially for small plants.
Apply water both near the plant’s
crown and away from it in order to
encourage the roots to spread outward.
And deep watering will let the
roots penetrate further into the soil.
Everything I’ve said above applies
to plants in the ground. As anybody
who has grown plants in containers
knows, they often require water once
continued on page 25
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