Tag: soil

By Ken Lain, the mountain gardener On the Go Answer Condensed Version of this Article January is the month to amend garden beds Turn 2” layer of organic Manure & Mulch in one shovels depth Spread Fruit & Veggie Food,…

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener Successful gardening all comes down to the right soil. When plants struggle in the yard, the first step towards better plants starts with a simple soil test. Figure out the soil’s texture, composition, drainage,…

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener High altitude gardening is different from gardening at lower elevations.  Combine our altitude with Arizona’s dry climate, bright air, and ever-present mountain winds, and you pretty much can forget what you learned from gardening…

Preparing Garden Soils for Spring Planting Once you’ve tried digging the first planting hole in a mountain garden you learn that our native soils are HARD !!!  Skimp on spring soil preparation to “soften” the ground and your garden’s production…

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener October is famous for its autumn colors, and some mountain plants show their bright hues better than others.  I took this photo of a group of my favorite fall companion plants.  I think they…

Several clients have been in this week sharing the sorrows of their black thumbs when it comes to their container gardens. For years I’ve successfully grown many plants in dozens of big pots around my garden, and they all flourish…

A raised bed is a bottomless frame set into a shallow trench. The sides can be made of almost any durable building material: rock, brick, concrete, and interlocking blocks. Retired watering troughs or claw foot bathtubs are the easiest raised…

Free to listen too, but the first 10 gardeners to register get a seasons worth of advance propagation material ready to start this years garden. Learn how to tell if your seed is fresh, the correct soil to start with,…

After the past couple of weeks’ extremely cold weather, I am ready to start my garden planning sessions. My anticipation really is fired up since the 2011 organic seeds arrived at the garden center this week. I know I’m not…

Most of us have gardened in places where the soil is rich, its pH perfectly balanced, and the climate is blessed with consistent rainfall, gentle sun, and plant coddling humidity. Mountain soil and climate present the opposite of such ideal…