Unlock the potential of your garden's soil and banish weeds to the sidelines! We're plunging hands-first into the world of soil preparation, sharing not just the 'how' but the 'why' behind curating the perfect seed bed. Discover the importance of a friable foundation for your plants to prosper, and learn the art of adjusting pH levels and enhancing drainage with rich organic matter. From ensuring your soil is packed with the right nutrients for your greenery to addressing the common challenges of different soil types, this episode has got your back.
But wait, there's more than just dirt under our fingernails! We take the fight to the weeds, dissecting strategies for keeping your garden sanctuaries clear of unwanted guests. Embrace weeding as more than a chore—it's a rite of passage for every green thumb. Plus, your gardening curiosities fuel our passion; we're here to tackle your questions and foster a thriving community of earth enthusiasts. Join us as we cultivate knowledge and witness your garden flourish beyond what you thought possible.
'How I Grow' is produced by The Seed Collection Pty Ltd. Find out more about us here: www.theseedcollection.com.au
Unlock the potential of your garden's soil and banish weeds to the sidelines! We're plunging hands-first into the world of soil preparation, sharing not just the 'how' but the 'why' behind curating the perfect seed bed. Discover the importance of a friable foundation for your plants to prosper, and learn the art of adjusting pH levels and enhancing drainage with rich organic matter. From ensuring your soil is packed with the right nutrients for your greenery to addressing the common challenges of different soil types, this episode has got your back.
But wait, there's more than just dirt under our fingernails! We take the fight to the weeds, dissecting strategies for keeping your garden sanctuaries clear of unwanted guests. Embrace weeding as more than a chore—it's a rite of passage for every green thumb. Plus, your gardening curiosities fuel our passion; we're here to tackle your questions and foster a thriving community of earth enthusiasts. Join us as we cultivate knowledge and witness your garden flourish beyond what you thought possible.
'How I Grow' is produced by The Seed Collection Pty Ltd. Find out more about us here: www.theseedcollection.com.au
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You're listening to episode one of how I Grow with the Seed Collection. In this episode, we'll be starting with the basics and talking about soil preparation for sowing and planting your seeds. Preparing your soil for sowing and planting One of the key things to remember here is that great soil is at the heart of successful gardening. It gives your plants the foundation they need for strong and healthy growth. When sowing seeds, a well-prepared soil, which is often referred to as a seed bed, is essential to ensuring successful germination. Now, everyone's soil quality varies, but there are some common factors that should be a part of every soil preparation routine. The good news the basics are really easy. So why is soil preparation so important?
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Seeds need just the right amount of moisture in order to germinate. To access water from the soil, seeds need to be in direct contact with it. This means the soil's texture must be fine and loose. Soil like this is often referred to as friable. Friable soil can be dug easily so that seeds can be planted at the correct depth, holds moisture without drying out or becoming waterlogged, and is loose enough for a seed's first delicate roots and shoots to make their way through it completely unimpeded. Once seeds have germinated, the soil stores most of the nutrients a plant needs to grow. If those nutrients are missing or locked up by the soil's chemistry, no plant can thrive. The soil also needs to have the right texture to allow unobstructed root growth, alongside the stability to anchor plants in place, while balancing drainage and water retention to provide steady water supply. Even if the soil is in great condition, if it's overrun with weeds, your prized plants will need to compete for resources, slowing down or even smothering their growth. For all these reasons, it's vital to prepare the soil properly, a week or two before sowing the seeds or transplanting seedlings.
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So how do you prepare soil for sowing and planting? Well, firstly, you have to deal with the weeds. You should never sow seeds into soil that's already hosting visible weeds. Use a hoe or other weeding tool, or even your bare hands, to uproot all the weeds you can see and remove the remnants to prevent them from taking hold again. Many perennial weeds can reshoot from their roots, so remove as much as their root system as possible. Secondly is soil texture. Dig over the soil to loosen its texture and make it easier for young plants' roots to grow.
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Aim to achieve light, loose, friable soil with no large lumps or compacted patches. This stage is the ideal opportunity to remove stones, roots and any other debris that could hinder growth. The amount of necessary digging will depend on what you're growing. Seeds need very finely textured soil, for the top few centimetres at least. For root crops, the soil should be fine and obstruction free to at least the depth of a spade's blade. This will allow the roots to grow straight.
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The next thing you'll need to do is check the soil pH levels Now. Most garden plants prefer moderately acidic soil, although some prefer a little alkalinity. It's easy to test the soil's acid levels using a pH kit, and if it's not too far out of range for your plant crops, you can adjust it by adding lime for overly acidic soils or iron sulfate for ones with high alkalinity. You'll also need to check drainage. Soil should hold water well without becoming instantly waterlogged. So at this stage, give the bare soil a light watering and see how well the moisture is absorbed. If the water pools a little on the surface, add some blood and bone or another kind of organic matter to help improve drainage. The heavy clay soils with serious waterlogging, adding gypsum can help in the longer term, but be sure you also add plenty of organic matter like compost to help break up the clay. Then you've got the other extreme where, if extremely sandy soils, let the water drain straight through without any retention. Mix in some organic matter to help balance the texture.
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Next, you'll need to check the nutrient levels. If you haven't needed to add organic matter so far, now's the time to do so to ensure your nutrient levels are high enough. It's important to check which materials are best for the crops that you're growing. For example, aged animal manure adds plenty of nutrients to the soil. This is great for hungry plants like brassicas and tomatoes, but may encourage growth of leaves rather than roots for things like beetroots, carrot and root crops. In most cases, a well-rounded homemade compost will be ideal. If you have no compost available, commercial fertilizer targeted for your plants will give them a really good head start. Mix and level off the soil. Lastly, give the soil a final forking over to ensure your additions are thoroughly mixed in, and then level off the surface with your hands or a rake.
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In an ideal world, soil preparation would be done a couple of weeks before planting. This gives the soil time to settle in and allows animal manures and fertilizers to age a little so they don't burn your plants. It's also enough time for many weed seeds that may have been present in the soil to germinate, so they can be removed again before planting. Realistically, many gardeners prep their soil directly before seeds are sown, and if this is the case for you, don't go overboard with fertilizers and monitor the soil for weeds for a few weeks after planting. Don't forget you'll also need ongoing protection.
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So preparing the soil before sowing or planting is vital, but your soil improvement efforts shouldn't end there. Most soil deteriorates over time, especially in veggie gardens, where nutrients are removed with every harvest. Because of this, a full soil preparation routine should be carried out each spring or before successive plantings. There are also some year-round activities to bear in mind, things like keeping on top of watering, even if it's on bare earth, to ensure the soil doesn't dry out and become hydrophobic. Hydrophobic soil will have water just run directly off it. It won't absorb anything at all. Try and avoid walking on the soil wherever possible to prevent compaction.
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Use an organic mulch around plants during the growing season. This will help to suppress weeds and maintain moisture. Continue to add fresh compost, worm castings or well-roaded manure every now and then. This will help continually refresh the soil's quality, and you can use things like green manure between plantings. Again, it'll suppress weeds while also preventing erosion and replenishing nutrients. So, although it's not one of the most glamorous aspects of gardening, the process is really essential. You don't want all your other planting, watering, weeding and feeding work to go to waste. You want that fully rewarded. Make this a habit before sowing seeds or transplanting seedlings, to give your plants the basis they need to thrive.
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Next, I'd like to go through some of the more common questions and challenges we hear about from our customers. Firstly, is too much love versus not enough love, and I'll give you some examples of these. Not enough love is optimistic. I'll say that much. You might have a lawn that's thriving and the grass is lush and thick, but that doesn't necessarily mean that your plants will thrive there too. Simply removing a patch of grass and planting your seeds directly in the lawn might not be the best port of call. Your seeds will have to compete heavily with the grass there, and it's unlikely that they'll win. They're also more likely to be trampled, forgotten about or neglected. On the other end of this scale, we have too much love. Yes, you can kill your plants with kindness. Too much fertilizer can actually damage and burn your plants. It can even kill them. So soil preparation is important, but try and remember too much can tip the scales.
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I've also been asked before about compost. Why can't we put our compost directly onto the garden? Well, compost that isn't aged can introduce a lot of different pathogens and nasties to your garden. It's also highly acidic and is likely to contain seeds that you don't want to introduce to your garden. Those seeds will compete with your seedlings and your plants.
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And while we're talking about competing with the plants, let's move on to weeds. I've had gardeners ask me in the past. I've followed all of your instructions on preparing the soil, I've planted my seeds, but why have weeds still grown? Well, the answer varies. Weeds can be blown in from the wind, carried in by birds, or resting dormant in the soil just waiting for the right conditions. We recommend waiting a week or two after weeding before planting. This allows you to observe the garden and remove any weeds that have sprouted up since completing your soil preparation.
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Once you've planted your seeds and they're growing well into seedlings don't forget, weeding is a constant task You'll need to keep check on them and make sure that they're not having to compete with these weeds. It's not the most thrilling aspect of gardening, but it can be quite therapeutic. Well, I hope that's helped everyone out there getting their hands dirty in the garden. If you have any questions about soil preparation or any other gardening topic you'd like answered, please visit wwwtheseedcollectioncomau forward slash podcast. We'd love to hear from you, so please don't be shy. That address again is wwwtheseedcollectioncomau forward slash podcast. You've been listening to how I Grow, produced by the seed collection in Knoxfield, victoria. It's our aim to make gardening more accessible to more people, and this podcast is just another way that we're doing that. If you don't know who we are, jump online and check us out. Just google the seed collection. You'll find a treasure trove of gardening info, as well as a huge range of seeds and gardening accessories. Thanks for listening.