Your garden is at its busiest in July, and so is the wear and tear on your soil. In this episode we get past the fertilizer conversation and into whether your soil is still functioning at all — how traffic, pounding rain, heat, and heavy-feeding crops degrade soil mid-season, the physical, chemical, and biological warning signs to look for right now, and tests you can run this week to sort the problems. Plus, how to use a mid-season open bed as a soil-building opportunity.
Let's dig in!
REFERENCES & RESOURCES
- University of Delaware Cooperative Extension — "Combating Soil Compaction" — https://www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/canr/cooperative-extension/fact-sheets/combating-soil-compaction/
- University of Minnesota Extension — "Backyard science: Is your soil healthy?" (slake test, infiltration test, earthworm counts) — https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-news/backyard-science-your-soil-healthy
- Cornell Soil Health Laboratory — Individual soil analyses, including wet aggregate stability — https://soilhealthlab.cals.cornell.edu/testing-services/individual-soil-analyses/
- Purdue University Vegetable Crops Hotline — "Nitrogen Loss from Wet Soils" — https://vegcropshotline.org/article/nitrogen-loss-from-wet-soils/
- UF/IFAS Extension — CIR 1092/SS117, "Soil and Container Media Electrical Conductivity Interpretations" — https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/SS117
- Texas A&M AgriLife, Aggie Horticulture — "Salt Injury" (Cucurbit Problem Solver) — https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/problem-solvers/cucurbit-problem-solver/leaf-disorders/salt-injury/
- Purdue University Vegetable Crops Hotline — "Summer Cover Crops for Improved Soil Health and Weed Management" — https://vegcropshotline.org/article/summer-cover-crops-for-improved-soil-health-and-weed-management/
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