[Arid_gardener] "Square foot" question

[Dick Gross]

Gosh, Carolyn, this is all too complicated and technical for me, but, most 
Arizona (desert) soils have virtually everything except organic compounds 
needed to grow most healthy plants. The Salt River Basin is a rich garden 
spot. Drive around the countryside and see fields lush with crops and 
orchards. If the farmers had to add all those amendments to make anything 
grow, a bale of hay would cost you a hundred bucks. Arid soils have a 
natural high alkalinity of about 8 because high evaporation concentrates the 
salts near or on the surface but the water has an alkalinity of about 8 
also--making it nearly impossible to get the soil any lower for any 
reasonable period of time. Organic material and gypsum help to prevent salt 
accumulation that can only be kept under control at a level we can live with 
by continually flushing salts out of the root zone.

Peat is okay. I have never heard of the drying out problem that doesn't make 
much sense to me. It will help retain moisture and open up the soil but will 
never be drier than the soil housing it. I believe it is slow to decompose 
On the surface, it would function as well as any other mulch to reduce 
evaporation and the idea that it can't be rehydrated sounds a little silly.

My own yard looks like the Amazon but the only fertilizer I use is 16-0-0, 
Ammonium Sulphate. The sulfur helps to offset alkaline compounds but I can't 
evaluate just how much. This formula is readily soluble. I often mix 1/4th 
teaspoon of it per gallon every time I water in small raised beds and 
especially in pots for constant feeding. Seems to do the job for me. I have 
used Miracle Grow the same way but, if the advanced formula helped growth 
beyond the 16-0-0, my eye was not able to detect it. In the Subtropical 
Demonstration garden at the Cooperative Extension, I have only used 16-0-0 
as well to fertilize. I would not want that forest to grow any better nor 
faster because I am already overwhelmed with pruning.

Our soil has adequate phosphorous not very available to the plant in 
alkaline soils, I've been led to believe. I  use Amonium Phosphate , 16-20-0 
(in the soil-not on it), rarely for root and fruit crops  but, again, do it 
to satisfy a superstition rather than any scientific awareness that it is 
needed. Horse manure that may be loaded with weed seeds should be well 
composted before using. Chicken manure has the urine mixed in with it and 
should be aged before used directly on crops. Fresh chicken has a too-high 
nitrogen content.

Worm castings is manure probably much more completely composted than animal 
wastes and is more effective but more expensive because there is less of it. 
But, any manure is nothing more than decomposed organic compounds composted 
in the gut exiting with the same elements it had going in but in chemical 
forms that soil micro-organisms can chow down on and, in their guts, reduce 
the mass to chemical compounds that microbial organisms can spoonfeed to 
plant root hairs.  Cow and horse is poorly decomposed after going through 
their guts and, especially in horse, weed seeds may go through untarnished 
and ready to sprout.

Contrary and/or supporting opinions civilly offered are welcome that I may 
learn from you.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carolyn Stoffel" <rakena at basicisp.net>
To: <arid_gardener at CALS.arizona.edu>
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 1:42 PM
Subject: [Arid_gardener] "Square foot" question


> I've done some reading about "square foot gardening" (not the book, 
> though) and recently purchased peat moss, vermiculite, and several kinds 
> of compost but haven't opened any of it.
>
> At the recent Fall Festival (Hi, Olin; Hi, Dick) a couple of the Master 
> Gardeners recommended against the peat moss on the basis that when it 
> dries out, it stays dry. They suggested pumice instead. However, the pots 
> I saw with pumice had very little, so I'm trying to figure out what to use 
> instead of peat moss for the necessary(?) bulk.
>
> I did buy a bag of pumice and one of worm castings at the Festival but I 
> was planning to add those in much smaller quantities - perhaps a cup of 
> each to a couple of scoops - each - of the vermiculite and compost.
>
> I have a couple of cut-down Phoenix garbage cans (look more like horse 
> feeders than composters) that I was going to use initially, which will be 
> considerably deeper than the square foot recommendation, but I wanted 
> something I could plant now.
>
> I have a small jar of old ranunculus seed that I'll just scatter thickly 
> (rather than spacing out) in one. The seed is so old and wasn't stored 
> properly, so it may not germinate at all. I also have ranunculus and 
> gladioulus bulbs, quite old and poorly stored, so I'll plant them with a 
> minimum of fussing - if they come up, fine.
>
> I'll have to consult some of the handouts I picked up at the Festival. I 
> know I have gazania (old), zinnia (fresh), four o'clocks (old), Santa 
> Claus melons (fresh, from a melon), jojoba (uhhhh.... no place for those), 
> Shirley poppies (old), and spaghetti squash (old). Oh, and jicama (old).
>
> And the onions (two Egyptian walking onions) and the multiplying onion I 
> bought at the Festival. The latter is not looking well at all. I'm feeling 
> very black-thumbed at the moment.
>
> There are other things I'd like to try but I have a tendency to bite off 
> more than I can chew, then quit, so I'm trying to start small.
>
> Thanks for any advice or suggestions.
>
> Carolyn Stoffel
>
>
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