The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
15 Basic Ways To Landscape Your Homepage
To condition heavy clay soils, add manures, peat moss, lime, gypsum, river sand or humus. Soil conditioners should be dug into the ground several weeks before planting, to do the most good.
Moist peat moss added to the soil is especially beneficial. It is not a fertilizer bur is one of the best of all soil conditioners. Peat moss absorbs 10 to 15 times its own dry weight in water. It is clean, easy to handle and is particularly useful for acid plants. Peat moss used as a mulch acts as a soil insulator to keep the hot sun from drying out feeder roots.
Fertilizers stimulate growth and help your plants develop resistance to pests, disease and drought. Fortunately the modern gardener need be little concerned about which fertilizer to use. Fertilizers are broadly divided into two classes, organic and the commercial chemical types.
Steer manure is the most widely used of all organic fertilizers. The best manure is available from commercial processors where it is obtained from the concrete floors of special Steer feeding pens. Comparatively free from dirt and weed seeds, the manure is aged and packaged in paper bags for clean and convenient handling. Manures also serve as soil conditioners and mulches.
Commercial fertilizers are concentrated plant foods derived from both organic and mineral sources. The principal chemical contents of commercial fertilizers are nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Most all fertilizers contain these with additional small quantities of less important chemicals. Chemical plant foods react more quickly than manures and should be used with great care.
Commercial fertilizer companies manufacture a complete and balanced plant food in packages of various sizes which will fulfill most general fertilizing needs. Application varies according to the chemical combination but most all-purpose commercial fertilizers can be applied at the rate of two cups (equaling one pound) per 25 square feet. Scatter evenly, cultivate lightly into the soil and water immediately. Directions for specific uses of plant food are supplied with each package and should be followed.
In addition to the usual all-purpose fertilizers, others are obtainable for any given plant problem. These include special acid foods, ammonium phosphate, blood and bone meal, cottonseed meal and fishmeal. Commercial organic fertilizers obtained from sewage, or made by special processes, are also available in powdered or pellet form.
