Carson Authur shared his knowledge of bagged soils, fertilizers and amendments at the March meeting of the Tweed and District Horticultural Society. Carson is the owner of Carson’s Garden Market in the County and host of Take it Outside on CJBQ radio Saturday mornings.
When shopping for soil, compost, fertilizers and soil amendments consumers are faced with many choices. Throughout his power point presentation, Carson stressed the importance of READING THE LABELS!!!
Carson started his presentation by defining the difference between dirt and soil…. dirt is what we get on our hands and pants whereas soil is filled with nutritious microorganisms that promote healthy plant growth.Top soil is the 6 inches of soil removed from an area. Once the area sits for 60 days, more “top soil” can be removed…. however, the quality of the soil decreases over time. Charcoal is added to the bags to make the soil black-hence the name “Black Earth”!
Potting soil has soil whereas potting mix has no soil.
According to Carson, gardeners LOVE triple mix…but do they read the label to see what constitutes triple mix?? Triple mix is a mixture of any three ingredients…. soil, sand, compost, peat moss and even “scary products” can be added to the mix. Read the label to see what the three ingredients are in the bag you are buying. If buying in bulk, ask the supplier.
He suggests replacing peat moss with manure or coconut fiber.
According to Carson, organic fertilizers are better for plants. Yes, they may be a bit more work and money for the gardener but the results are well worth the extra effort. Chemical fertilizers weaken the plants over time. Carson gave the example of strawberries from California…. largeand red but tasteless when you bite into one as the farms use chemicalfertilizers whereas the strawberries that were fertilized with an organic fertilizer are perhaps smaller but very tasty!
Examples of organic fertilizers…. Bone Meal, Blood Meal, Kelp, chicken manure.
Chicken manure contains nitrogen and no weeds but should not be used around lettuce (potential of E coli or salmonella).
Cow manure is a good source of fibre to replace peat moss…use the oldest available.
Horse manure is good for trees and hydrangeas but not vegetables…. weed seeds and dewormer is present.
Lamb manure contains lots of weed seeds…needs to be sterilized before using…contains fiber.
Pig manure should not be used on plants.
According to Carson, the #1 manure is Alpaca manure. Llama is also good but harder to collect.
Bagged mushroom compost is suitable to use in garden.
Carson touched on the topic of composting during his presentation. Veggie scraps are good compost. But it takes 3 years for scraps, leaves, etc. to breakdown and become compost. So, he suggests building a 3-compost bin…. the first bin is this year’s scraps, the second bin is last year’s and the third bin is ready to use! Adding a $5 container of worms speeds up the composting.
Some home remedies to amend the soil…
-egg shells…can take 3 years to beak down; need to be baked at 200 degrees to kill any salmonella
-coffee grinds…good but chipmunks love them! And they can be toxic to dogs
To conclude his presentation, Carson’s advice was to READ THE LABELS, ASK QUESTIONS and look for ORGANIC OPTIONS. By doing these three things, we as gardeners are making better choices for our gardens and ultimately for the food we consume.
NEXT MEETING:
April 1 @ 7 pm…Helene Darisse, a local herbalist will share her knowledge of foraging herbs growing in our backyards to make remedies for aches, pains and minor illnesses.