Now is the time to prepare your soil for a fall garden.
July 16, 2024 - Believe it or not, July is the time to plant cantaloupe (seed), cucumber (seed), eggplant (transplants), peppers (transplants), pumpkin (seed), squash (seed), and tomatoes (transplants) for a fall harvest in East Texas. Yes, I know it is hot and yes I know your garden is a mess. I do not make the rules, Mother Nature and the calendar do. If you like sweating and getting dirty, then now is your season. It is also a good time to improve your garden soil.
Plants need soil for their roots to grow in. The roots provide anchorage and absorb water and nutrients from the soil. There are different types of soil with different properties. It is best if you learn to identify them, so you will know what your strengths and weaknesses are. Only add amendments to your soil when you know why you are adding them. You may not need to add anything.
A few definitions are in order. All soils are made up of four types of substances in assorted proportions: minerals, organics, air, and water. All are essential to plant growth. Mineral soils are divided into three types, which are based on their particle size: sand, silt, and clay. Sand is comprised of large particles, which makes it drain extremely well, generally too well. Sandy soils dry out quickly and do not retain nutrients for very long, as they leach out with the water as it is draining. They are easy to work, however. Sandy soils are often described as loose or light. Clay is comprised of very small, flat, slippery particles that do not drain very well but do hold fast to nutrients and water. They are very difficult to work and cultivate. Clay soils are often described as tight and heavy. Clay soils tend to stick to your shoes and tiller and dry into large clods or “bricks.” Silt is comprised of medium-sized particles with intermediate characteristics between sand and clay. Loam soils have equal portions of sand, silt, and clay, and they are ideal for gardening as they provide the benefits of each. Most vegetable gardeners prefer a sandy loam soil. These ideal soils are often referred to as friable, crumbly, and loamy—they all mean the same texture.
Describing the ideal soil and owning the ideal soil are completely different things. The best way to improve your soil is with the addition of organic matter. Organic matter improves the moisture- and nutrient-holding capacities of sandy soils, and it improves the drainage, aeration, and workability of clay soils. Without air, roots cannot take up nutrients and plants will be stunted or even die from root rot. Organic matter can come from home compost piles made from decayed leaves, grass clippings, and kitchen scraps, or it can be purchased as compost, mushroom compost, composted cotton seed hulls, composted hardwood bark, or composted black pine bark. Never let any organic matter go to waste. Non-composted organic matter, such as leaves, hay, grass clippings, rice hulls, pine bark, wood chips, and pine straw, can be placed on top of the ground where it will prevent weeds, retain moisture, and keep the ground cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. As it decomposes, it improves your soil.
If you do not have the heart to get into your garden now, basil, beans, garlic, and multiplying/gumbo/winter onions get planted in August, then all the cool season veggies in September. Time waits for no one.
Greg Grant is the Smith County horticulturist and Master Gardener coordinator for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. He is the author of Texas Fruit and Vegetable Gardening, Texas Home Landscaping, Heirloom Gardening in the South, and The Rose Rustlers. You can read his “Greg’s Ramblings” blog at arborgate.com, read his “In Greg’s Garden” in each issue of Texas Gardener magazine (texasgardener.com), or follow him on Facebook at “Greg Grant Gardens.” More science-based lawn and gardening information from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service can be found at aggieturf.tamu.edu and aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu.
