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'GRANDMA! THIS ISN'T DIRT. THIS IS SOIL!'
What's your definition of healthy garden soil? Anything that's dark-colored? Something you buy in a 50 lb. plastic bag? An absence of clay? Neutral pH?
My Encyclopedia of Gardening devotes 12 pages to the subject of soil. Clearly, soil is complex in more ways than one.
In recent days, I've been reading an enlightening and occasionally amusing internet dialogue by Master Gardeners on the topic of soil.
The part I found amusing pertained to the distinction between "soil" and "dirt."
It all began when Carolyn said she needed to advise a gardener about sources for "good clean dirt."
Jan responded that she once ordered "great garden dirt" that was supposedly ready for the garden. "It sat for three days in my driveway and when it rained, the pile turned into a huge rock."
Then Stanley wrote: "Perhaps I'm being persnickety or supersensitive about this, but I think we ought to set an example by using the term 'soil' rather than 'dirt' when we are speaking of soil. Good garden soil is something to be highly prized, but I think of 'dirt' as filth, something undesirable."
Dr. Mary Meyer, who coordinates Minnesota's Master Gardener program, wrote that one of her college professors defined soil as what we grow plants in and dirt is what we wash off our clothes.
Jan, whose email signature states that gardeners know the best dirt, responded to Stanley with these thoughts: "I call it soil at times and other times it is dirt. When I come in from gardening, I am never 'soily;' I am 'dirty,' and the dirt seems to end up being embedded in my skin until November.
"I tend to buy 'dirt' and turn it into 'soil.' I think of 'soiled' as dirtier than dirt. 'Soiled' is permanent and 'dirty' can be washed out. Soil turns into dirt the minute it touches the sidewalk. Dirt turns back into soil when you sweep it back.
"I am not one to be a great example, however, as I approach gardening with fun and humor. I have a rubber dinosaur in my hosta bed, and I call dandelions 'annual urban prairie flowers.' I have seen too many people turned off to gardening by gardeners who only use Latin horticultural terms and insist people who don't are somehow not 'real gardeners.'
"Soil or dirt? Be an example? Well, I can eat six fudgsicles and half a can of shoestring potatoes for dinner when nobody is looking. I can also use cloth napkins in a fine dining establishment. I just decide which term to use, when it applies. I always say Martha Stewart would put a restraining order out on me.
"However, Stanley, I have over 80 different plants in my small front-yard garden. One lady, house-bound with cancer, watches my garden and comes down the block to see it. A teenage boy jumped off his skateboard to say I have a beautiful garden. So, as I sit in my garden, covered with dirt, digging in the soil, I only worry about using the correct terms when people do not understand what I mean."
Then Skip, a Master Gardener from Anoka who knows quite a lot about everything pertaining to gardening, suggested that the term "black dirt" has yet to be defined.
"Based on my own experience and that of others, 'black dirt' can be most anything. One day it can be the 'black dirt' reclaimed from a construction site, and the next day it might be a load of 'black dirt' mined from a wetlands area in a highway project area.
"Very often this 'black dirt' tends to be high in soluble salts with a pH that is either much lower or higher than the optimum pH range of 6.0 to 7.0. For example, in 1997, a soil sample of Anoka County 'black dirt' was sent to the U of M soils lab. This 'black dirt' was destined for a vegetable garden. The sample had a pH of 4.5 that was 100 times more acid than the target pH of 6.5. It was great soil for blueberries or azaleas but it would require the addition of 22 lbs. of lime per 100 square feet in order to grow vegetables successfully.
"Ask the seller if the soil has been tested and ask to see the soil test report. If the seller doesn't have a soil test report, collect a sample and send it to the soil lab for analysis. Have the lab do an additional soluble salts test. There is an additional fee for the test. This might seem to be an unnecessary additional bother and expense but remember that you are about to shell out a fair chunk of money for the truck load of soil and once it has been delivered and dumped into a pile at your feet you are committed to it.
"Soil forms the basis for everything we do in our lawns and gardens. Unfortunately it is one area that is often overlooked either because of the notion that 'dirt is dirt' and 'black dirt is better dirt,' or that the realm of soils seems too complex to understand. It is complex, but it is a wonderfully logical complexity."
This complexity was punctuated by Larry, who told of a new Twin Cities company that mixes and delivers soil to your specifications. Its name: Designer Soils.
Finally, Ingrid in St. Paul wrote: "I had to chuckle when I read Stanley's soil/dirt comments, and agree. A couple of years ago my then-7-year-old grandson (the stepson of a farmer) was helping me plant annuals. When I suggested that he stick his hand in the dirt to make a little planting hole, he turned to me and chided, 'Grandma! This isn't dirt. This is soil.' I've tried not to make that mistake again."
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
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by Cliff Johnson |
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