Every gardener must have heard their fair share of gardening advice. Some myths and stories passed on from family, some from all around your gardening communities. It is always great to have some great tips which could help your plant babies but is everything you hear true? It can get overwhelming when you don’t know what to believe. So, while we cannot discuss all of the garden advice , let’s look at the most famous ones and see how much of it is true?
Water droplets on leaves may burn them. You might have heard this many times that you should avoid watering the plants when it is hot and sunny as it will burn the leaves. Well we are here to tell you, neither the leaves, nor the water droplets have the magnifying strength to concentrate the heat on those droplets. There is no truth to this.
Adding sugar to the soil will yield sweet tomatoes. Ah how we wish it would be true but sorry there is no truth to this. Plants make their own sugar and in fact, adding more sugar to the soil may hurt the soil and kill the plant. Certainly not making the tomatoes sweeter but you can instead find the varieties that are sweet and grow those.
Organic pesticides are less toxic than synthetic pesticides. Synthetic or organic, misuse of either can be harmful. Just like chemicals can be harmful, there are many natural toxins that can be dangerous in organic pesticides. Always be careful in handling these pesticides and keep them away from kids and pets.
Add sand to loosen the clay in the soil. Actually this might be quite the opposite. Sand ideally would sound like it will help loosen the soil better for drainage but adding it with clay would actually turn it into a concrete like substance. In fact, if you want to add something for drainage, compost would be a much better idea.
Drought tolerant plants don't need watering. They might need less water than other plants but all plants need watering every now and then. If the soil around the plant looks dry, that is your sign to water it. Young plants especially need this care as their roots are still getting established so even if they are drought tolerant plants, they need the care.
The myth is that if you add sand to a heavy clay soil you will make concrete. Please retract this silly myth.
All proper loam soils contain significant amounts of sand, silt and clay. The soils modern farmers prefer have a higher sand content, perhaps 50%, and a clay content less than 30%. When the clay exceeds 35% the soil looses permeability and plant growth slows.
If you have soil with 40% clay…it acts like clay. If you mix it with equal parts of sand and lower the clay content to 20%…it becomes sandy loam…great soil.
Adding compost to clay is the worst thing possible. You are taking a soil with slow penetration of oxygen and adding a material that consumes oxygen relatively quickly. In fact compost will create sewer gasses if mixed with clay.
Leaving compost on the surface of clay soils provide all the benefits without promoting root rot diseases.
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The myth is that if you add sand to a heavy clay soil you will make concrete. Please retract this silly myth.
All proper loam soils contain significant amounts of sand, silt and clay. The soils modern farmers prefer have a higher sand content, perhaps 50%, and a clay content less than 30%. When the clay exceeds 35% the soil looses permeability and plant growth slows.
If you have soil with 40% clay…it acts like clay. If you mix it with equal parts of sand and lower the clay content to 20%…it becomes sandy loam…great soil.
Adding compost to clay is the worst thing possible. You are taking a soil with slow penetration of oxygen and adding a material that consumes oxygen relatively quickly. In fact compost will create sewer gasses if mixed with clay.
Leaving compost on the surface of clay soils provide all the benefits without promoting root rot diseases.