A home garden is not an island but affects the environment around it, both on adjacent property and even further if the property is near a water resource. Wise water use and appropriate soil amendments can help.
Title: Using Water Wisely
Organization: New York Botanical Garden
Description: Healthy soil is inevitably and inherently connected to water. Plants need water as much as soil does in order to be alive and maintain its physical properties. This one-page information sheet highlights how excess water in soil leaches nutrients and how, especially with lawn management, it is especially important to be conscious of our water usage to protect the plants in our garden and downstream from us, too!
Title: The Myth of Soil Amendments
Organization: Washington State University
Description: More is not necessarily better. The author, a professor at WSU, says that when transplanting trees and shrubs, soil amendments should not be added. The effect on these woody plants is detrimental due to nutrient and water handling differences between the amended backfill and the surrounding native soil. The author’s webpage includes other informative and thought-provoking articles on gardening myths.
Title: A Guide to Native Plant Gardening
Organization: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Description: This site outlines the steps for soil preparation and weed elimination when planting a native garden. Usually, if native plants are well selected for a site, no soil amendments should not be needed; in fact, a healthy soil helps mitigate or eliminate the effect of toxins and harmful chemicals, already existing in the soil. But for sites where the original topsoil has been stripped, the site explains how what types of soil amendments can help. [share with NATIVE PLANTS]
Title: Why We're Not Fans of Amending Soil
Organization: Monarch Gardens LLC
Description: An award-winning gardener explains his four principles of amendment-free gardening:
- The perfect or ideal soil is the soil you have right now.
- Matching plants to site often means less maintenance and less plant death over time.
- Matching plants to one another.
- Planting tightly means more soil building and less work long term.