Is Your Soil in Overdraft? Find Out How to Amend Soil

Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot!

***

When you make only withdrawals—no deposits—you eventually end up in overdraft. It works that way at the bank, with friendships—and with soil.

And growing crop after crop in a garden is like making withdrawal after withdrawal. The crops use nutrients. Working the soil affects its structure.

Amending soil is like putting money back into the bank. Soil amendments can improve soil structure, soil chemistry, and return nutrients to the soil.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about practical ways home gardeners can improve soil quality with soil amendments.

We discuss different types of manures, making compost, using leaves, wood chips, and common products such as bone meal, peat moss, and blood meal.

If you’re looking for more on soil, check out this post about how and when to use wood ash in the garden.

***

- Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

- Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

- And say hi—we love to hear what you think!