Amend

December 21, 2023

You may recall that in September after my poor potato harvest, I started researching how to amend my three vegetable beds to increase their yield next year.  I had removed the tops of the plants and then did little else until October, when the smartweed began to take hold.  Loki had also begun to dig holes in the beds, so I put up small fencing as a deterrent and cleared away the brush from along the back of the house.  In November I purchased taller fencing as I found Loki was merely jumping over the top and still digging in the beds.  I also purchased three bags of a compost and cow manure mixture (two of the ingredients recommended to amend the beds) and planned to put one bag on each area.  These sat on the patio until Loki decided to “open” one of the bags for me.  That meant last week I finally got around to amending the soil in one of the beds and getting the taller fencing up on another. 

When I checked online, I found that most garden soils are imperfect and can benefit from adding organic fertilizers or compost mixes.  However, if you want to amend your soil the right way you will need to understand what your soil either lacks or has too much of.  While you can sprinkle a random fertilizer into your garden, you will have better results if you take time to study your soil and come up with a plan for how to improve it.  Good garden soil is the basis of your garden because it provides the nutritional foundation for your plants.  You also need to consider the structure of your soil.  The first thing to consider is how acidic or alkaline your soil is (soil pH).  This is essential and allows you to understand what kinds of plants will grow best in your garden and which will not grow well.  You can amend the soil by adding lime to increase the pH or sulfur to lower it.  The soil structure is also called the soil composition and describes the size of your soil particles and how much space (for air and movement) is in between those particles.  Structure also describes how easily (or not) water gets absorbed into the soil. Soil structure is generally sand, clay, silt, or some combination of the three.  The ideal structure is called “loam” which is a perfect balance of all three soil types.

This morning I woke to a text from Melissa that Zena had gotten her collar tangled in the fencing and had freaked out as it dragged along behind her as she tried to get back into the house.  I had visions of the new fencing strewn across the back patio as I got dressed and came to see the damage.  Melissa told me Zena appeared to be fine (just shaken).  As I looked outside, I noticed it was not my new fencing that had come down, but the shorter fencing I had placed around the grow bags was gone and now lay in a pile on the patio.  Seeing the taller fencing had worked (at least so far) inspired me to finish the amend on the second bed and to shore up the fence.  While I had planned on finishing the third bed with an amend and taller fencing it began to sprinkle.  We are scheduled for a major rainstorm so instead I cleaned up the destroyed fencing, blew off the patio to clear the debris, and reset one of the gutter spouts so it would drain away from the bed.  Loki loves to play in mud puddles.

Thoughts:  As I thought about my long journey from research to action concerning wanting to amend my garden beds, I knew it was a matter of procrastination.  While I do not consider myself to be a procrastinator, it can happen when the task is something I am unsure of how to complete.  Habitual procrastinators represent approximately 20% of the population, and “I do not feel like it” can take precedence over their goals or responsibilities.  Psychologists have identified various drivers of procrastination, from low self-confidence, anxiety, a lack of structure, or an inability to motivate oneself to complete unpleasant tasks.  When we procrastinate, we can become fixated on negative thoughts and changing habits requires even greater effort than completing the task.  What the world needs is people willing to “get ‘er done”.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.