Lasagna Gardening In A Bucket - Page 2

 


Catching and reusing the water does sound like a good idea indeed but I
would like to find a way to prevent over watering in the first place.  I
will be using a five gallon bucket for a single plant.  If I don't over
water,  there shouldn't be much to catch for re-use.  Such a small
amount may evaporate quickly in the summer heat.  Perhaps I should
consider getting a soil moisture tester?  Can anyone recommend a decent
tester for under $50 US???

Rich

 

On 5/7/10 10:30 PM, EVP MAN wrote:

Unless you are growing cherry tomatoes, patio tomatoes, or other
tomatoes with small fruit, a bucket is just not large enough.  Tomato
plants can send their roots 10 ft down into the soil.  A 15 gal can
(left over after planting a tree) might be sufficient.

If you are concerned about retaining moisture without drowning the
plants, consider my do-it-yourself potting mix.  See
<http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_potting_mix.html> .  However, even
if you only use organic fertilizers, the excellent drainage of this mix
will generally mean you will lose nitrogen during the growing season.

--
David E. Ross
Climate:  California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at <http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary>

 


Tomato plants with ten foot roots :)  Why I'd have to hire a backhoe to
dig them out in the fall.  Then I'd have a big enough hole to put an
inground swimming pool in the following spring........LOL  Last year I
did plant 14 Jet Star tomato plants in the ground and I must say that
they produced a bumper crop for me to enjoy.  When I pulled them up in
the fall,  the roots were much closer to ten inches rather than ten feet
long :)  It would be quite hard to double dig a garden with such a huge
root system.  I pruned each of my plants to a single stem and used
stakes.  Each plant averaged between 30-35 nice tomatoes.

Rich

 

On 5/8/10 9:44 AM, EVP MAN wrote:

Because tomatoes are not woody plants, the roots are not woody.  When
you pulled out tomato plants and saw 10-inch roots, you left most of the
roots in the ground.  Once the plants are removed or die, the deep roots
quickly rot away.

Nevertheless, tomatoes need a lot of space for their roots while growing.

--
David E. Ross
Climate:  California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at <http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary>

 



The point in lasagna gardening, is to encourage soil organisms to
nourish your plants. Besides breaking down organic matter, these
microbes also build up soil structure. As they feed, certain soil
bacteria secrete gums, waxes, and gels that hold tiny particles of earth
together. Dividing fungal cells lengthen into long fingers of hyphae
that surround crumbs of soil and bind them to each other. These
miniclumps give microbially rich soil its good "tilth": the loose,
crumbly structure that gardeners and farmers strive for. Also, these
gooey microbial by-products protect soil from drying and allow it to
hold huge volumes of water.

Soil bacteria and fungi are like small bags of fertilizer, retaining in
their_ bodies nitrogen and other nutrients they gain from root exudates
and other _organic matter (such as those sloughed-off root-tip cells).
Carrying on the _analogy, soil protozoa and nematodes act as ³fertilizer
spreaders" by releasing ,_the nutrients locked up in the bacteria and
fungi ³fertilizer bags." The nematodes and protozoa in the soil come
along and eat the bacteria and fungi in the,_ rhizosphere. They digest
what they need to survive and excrete excess carbon_ and other nutrients
as waste.

You can buy special soil fungi at nurseries, called mycorrhizal fungi,
establish themselves in a symbiotic relationship with roots, providing
them not only with-physical protection but with nutrient delivery as
well. In return for exudates, these fungi provide water, phosphorus, and
other necessary plant nutrients. These occur naturally in soil, but it
is a good idea to inoculate pots with them.

Where humus really excels is in holding nutrients. The humus molecule
illustrated below shows that, from an atom's-eye viewpoint, the face
that humus presents to the world is a bristling array of oxygen atoms.
Oxygen has a strong negative charge, and in chemistry, as in much of
life, opposites attract. Thus, humus's many negative oxygen atoms serve
as "bait" for luring lots of positively charged elements. These include
some of the most important nutrients for both plants and soil animals:
potassium, calcium, magnesium, ammonium (a nitrogen compound), copper,
zinc, manganese, and many others. Under the right conditions (in soil
with a pH near 7, that is, neither too acid nor too alkaline), humus can
pick up and store enormous quantities of positively charged nutrients.

Yes, plants are quite capable of absorbing the water-soluble minerals in
chemical fertilizer. But plants often use only 10 percent of the
fertilizer that's applied and rarely more than 50 percent. The rest
washes into the groundwater, which is why so many wells in our farmlands
are polluted with toxic levels of nitrates.

In short, a properly tuned ecological garden rarely needs soluble
fertilizers because plants and soil animals can knock nutrients loose
from humus and organic debris (or clay, another nutrient storage
source) using secretions of mild acid and enzymes. Most of the nutrients
in healthy soil are "insoluble yet available," in the words of soil
scientist William Albrecht. These nutrients, bound to organic matter or
cycling among fast-living microbes, won't' wash out of the soil yet can
be gently coaxed loose ‹ or traded for sugar secretions‹ by roots. And
the plants take up only what they need.

The ultimate extension of lasagna gardening (a.k.a. sheet mulching)
would be to grow cover crops of "green manure" between plantings. This
would add organic material and nitrogen to your soil without the need
for amendment$.

Good Gardening ;O)
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html