It just never seems to end with me and my strawberry patch! It is getting old…really, really, old.

Over the weekend (last weekend) I went out and really studied my strawberry patch. Remember, it was early April when I planted both “live plants” and “bare root plants” to fill-out my expanded strawberry patch. I dedicated 5 raised beds to grow a combination of Albion and Eversweet strawberries. Yeah, we like strawberries…a lot! That’s about 150sq’ of bed area. Or, a 75’ long 2’ wide row…two plants wide. Plenty of room to grow a huge patch.

We ended up putting in 20 live line plants of Eversweet, 25 bare root Eversweet plants, and 25 bare root Albion plants. We have maybe 6 or so plants carred over from last year. That is a great start for a great patch!

Well, as of last Sunday (a week ago)…yeah, not so good. Actually…pretty pathetic.

A quick assessment gave me the idea that we were losing ½ of all the bare root plants and maybe ¼ of the live plants. And the carry over plants looked sick. But I had followed all the instructions of the nurseries that I bought the plants from…and the plants were failing miserably. I estimated that within a month the patch would be full of little more than dead plants.

Now what to do?

Look, I followed the depth of hole, crown placement, wood chip mulch recommendation, and watering guidelines. The soil was healthy, well amended, and prepared properly. Yet, it was a serious problem quickly heading towards disaster!

So, on Monday morning I located an “expert” and they agreed to help me. I sent them pictures and described everything from planting to watering. Boy…did they read me the riot act! They sent me a “to-do” list to start right then and there. They estimated that I would save about 60 – 75% of the plants if I started immediately and do what they told me. Okay…trust buy verify.

I contacted the better of the two nurseries that I bought plants from, the live plant supplier. I explained what was going on in the patch and they told me what to do…which was different than the other nursery, way different from the “expert”, and also a bit different from their original instructions.

Then I went back to the “expert” and shared the new set of “to-do” from the supplier…thankfully they were patient…very patient. Step-by-step they explained to me why the new “to-do” from the supplier would not work…at all. Actually, they explained that the plants would all be lost and why they would fail. They made sense based on my gardening knowledge in other areas and it matched up with common sense. More garden work to be done!

So here is what the new plan is to save the patch:

1. Remove all the wood chip mulch.
2. Cut off any dead or sick looking leaves and stems from the plants.
3. Put a 1tbsp ring of organic 4-4-4 fertilizer around the “drip edge” of the plant, not near the plant crown.
4. Scratch that into the surface, then water it in really well.
5. Then put about 1oz of a 6-12-12 fish-based liquid fertilizer around each plant at the drip edge, not near the crown.
6. Then put a 6” – 8” ring of worm castings around each plant, ¼” – ½” thick. Don’t mound it up around the plant crown. Here’s the problem…it would have cost hundreds of dollars to do this step based on the number of plants and the cost of worm castings…even in bulk. So they said place it around the most mature plants and the healthiest of the live plants. That I can do.
7. Then use clean, weed-free straw as a mulch on the entire bed, but keep the mulch 1” away from the plant crown. The straw will settle over time, they wanted 2” total after it settled.
8. And I had to change the irrigation strategy as well…timing and emitter placement.

I didn’t have the worm castings or the straw on-hand…worm castings ordered from Amazon (best value) and will pick the straw in an hour or so from the local feed store.

So yesterday I spent the rest of the day removing all the wood chip mulch, applying the fertilizer treatment, and doing most of the irrigation changes. The “expert” was emphatic that the straw mulch go on today at the latest…so today it is. I won’t get the worm castings until Friday so that has to wait. When the castings get here I will simply pull back the mulch from the identified plants, add the worm castings, then get the mulch back in place. Once that is done I will sit back and watch everything go perfectly and strawberries will just jump into my mouth!

Here is what I had when I thought I was done a couple weeks ago…

Then today this is what I found…

I had dead plants like this one…no green at the crown at all. But I won’t pull them out…I will just leave them, treat them, and see if they might come back to life like a gardener’s resurrection dream come true.

Here is a live plant that I had just planted a few weeks ago. Sickly, edges are yellowing and/or brown…a couple crispy leaves as well.

This plant is a second season plant that also looks rather sick…looks worse than it did a month ago. Yellowing leaves, no new healthy growth, some crispy edges, etc.

After I had removed all the wood chips, added the organic fertilizer, and watered it in. I also moved the irrigation emitters to get more water where it was needed.

Here is the tour of the new and improved strawberry patch. Strawberry Patch 2.1…

Related Articles –

• GARDEN : Strawberries – Planting Bare Root
• GARDEN : Strawberries – Planting Live Plants

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

It’s vitally important to have healthy soil to grow healthy produce…and a lot of it. To that end I will cover; Biochar, Blood Meal, Bone Meal, Coco Coir, Compost, Gypsum, Leaf Mold, Mulch, Peat Moss, Perlite/Pumice, Seaweed/Kelp, Vermiculite, and Worm Castings.

There is a big difference in the requirement and application for each amendment used; 1) raised bed, 2) in-ground garden. For raised beds you are starting from scratch and “building” your soil. For in-ground gardens you are “fixing” the soil you already have. Whatever the application, rich healthy soil gives you better tasting, healthier fruit and vegetables…from healthier plants.

So let’s go down the list…

Biochar –

Biochar is specially made charcoal used to improve soil. It is produced in a controlled low-oxygen heating process. Biochar is really helpful for sandy/native soils, dry climates, and where low organic matter exists in the soil. Biochar is helpful because biochar can help hold moisture, hold nutrients, support microbes, and reduce leaching. Think of it as tiny black porous sponge-like rocks full of microscopic holes. Those pores can hold water, hold nutrients, and shelter microbes which helps build long-term soil structure. Biochar can persist in soil for decades or even centuries. However, raw biochar can temporarily tie up nitrogen, absorb nutrients from soil, raise pH, and initially slow plant growth because it behaves like a giant empty sponge absorbing all that but releasing later over time. It is important to “charge” biochar first by soaking it in compost tea, mixing with compost, mixing with aged manure, mixed in with worm castings, or soaked with fish fertilizer…filling up the “sponge”…loading nutrients and microbes into the biochar before adding it to soil. Think of it this way…“Compost feeds the soil today. Biochar helps the soil hold onto those benefits longer.” Biochar is a helper not some miracle product

* I’ve used biochar this year…a fair amount actually. And no, I can’t see any improvement in the soil…it’s only been a month or two. But I have faith in the science of it.

Blood Meal –

Think nitrogen…it delivers it quickly. Blood meal is made from…you guessed it…animal blood from slaughterhouses. It’s sterilized, dried, and ground into powder. is typically 12–15% nitrogen, which is very high for an organic amendment. Nitrogen is what plants use to build, leaves, stems, and chlorophyll for photosynthesis. When plants don’t have enough nitrogen, they grow slowly and look pale. Blood meal can begin helping within days to a couple of weeks. It is also helpful when you have chunky compost. Blood meal will feed nitrogen to the microbes that are breaking down those woody chucks. Blood meal is not a general use soil amendment, it is a very specific remedy.

* When my greenhouse plants started to turn a bit pale, yellowing, and losing that bright lovely green…I added a treatment of the blood meal to each plant after watering well; and then watered it in again. The green came back within a 2 – 3 days.

Bone Meal –

Made from bones (mostly cattle) that have been steamed sterilized, then dried and ground into a fine powder. It is a great source for Phosphorus (10–15% normally) but where it really shines is calcium…high concentration of it. Phosphorus helps with root development, promoting flowering/blossoms, fruiting, and early plant establishment. A number of folks like to use it when planting tomatoes. The calcium availability can help with water uptake, and that can help with blossom end rot. Most raised bed soil, if done properly, doesn’t need bone meal.

* I’ve used this when planting tomatoes. I used it as a dusting in the bottom of the hole, the sides, and a top-dressing around (but not touching) the stem. Look at it this way…tomatoes need a lot of water. If a lot of water is available to the plant, but the soil calcium is low, the tomatoes can’t uptake the water as well. Bone meal can boost the calcium content of the soil potentially making more water available to the plant.

Coco Coir –

Is kinda like peat moss in some ways. It is made from the husks of coconuts. It improves the structure of soil, gives it water retention capability, improves aeration, which helps avoid soil compaction. It is often preferred over peat moss if the coco coir is quality, and not fresh. Look for a product that states “washed” or “buffered”. It also doesn’t add any nutrients to the soil. It is best when building the soil initially, not useful as a top dressing.

* I’ve not personally used this product but I hear great things about it. And the #1 thing I hear…it replaces peat moss and is a better product than peat moss.

Compost –

Compost is basically decomposed organic material made from things like: leaves/pine needles, grass clippings, fine wood chips, food scraps, and manure. When properly processed (over time, microbes break it down) into a dark, crumbly, soil-like material. When done correctly it becomes a slow-release, well-balanced nutrition source for your garden. It contains Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), and trace minerals…and usually microbes, beneficial bacteria and fungi if it wasn’t over processed. And I’ve found earth worms in some I’ve bought locally. Essentially compost is the bomb for gardens and raised beds. It is often the solution for any kind of poor soil, or soil that has been worn out over time. It holds water like a sponge, improves drainage, and prevents compaction. For plants it makes them more drought tolerant, better nutrient uptake, and healthier overall growth. It is really great when building soil for raised beds or improving ground-based gardens. It can also be used as a top dressing (usually ¼” – 1” depending on the plant variety). Don’t confuse actual compost with actual mulch…compost feeds, mulch protects.

* I am a great lover of and believer in compost! I have used it extensively to improve the soil here on the glamstead. To me…it is the ultimate soil “fixer-upper”. Like the ultimate general-purpose medicine that can cure anything that ails you. If you are blessed with the Midwest’s black soil called Mollisols, then you have the ultimate soil to grow pretty much anything. That is what compost is helping me to recreate here in my raised beds and to a lesser degree in my “in-ground” melon patch rows.

Gypsum –

Gypsum is a natural mineral (calcium sulfate) that is mined and comes in powder or granules. The #1 benefit of gypsum for gardeners is it can improve some clay soils, especially sodium-heavy or compacted soils. The #2 benefit is it will force out sodium from the soil.

* I used this on my yard…probably wasting my time. The application rate would have to be very high, like ¼lb per square foot. Why not effective? Besides my very low application rate, my soil is not high in sodium. Gypsum is best used when compaction is present and caused mainly by soil sodium content.

Leaf Mold –

Leaf mold is decomposed leaves that have broken down (fungal-driven) over time, usually 1–2 years. It is not compost…it comes from only leaves. Better than compost for water retention. Really improves soil structure…think aeration. Very low in nutrients but rich in beneficial fungi. It is not a fertilizer, it builds soil structure. It is really under-rated and under-used by gardeners.

* I’ve not used leaf mold and can’t really comment on it.

Mulch –

Mulch is essentially any material, organic or inorganic, placed on top of soil to protect and improve it. Yeah, you can include rock and plastic sheeting in the description. For me I am only referring to organic material such as straw, leaves, and wood chips. Mulch slows evaporation which then keeps soil from drying out too quickly. It also keeps soil cooler in hot days and warmer at night during cold/cooler nights…and that reduces plant stress…and that makes for healthier plants. It will also help reduce weed presence. I have found the best mulch is straw…clean, weed-free straw. I strongly avoid hay as mulch because…seeds galore…and it could have been treated with chemicals that will kill your garden for years. Finally, over time organic mulch will breakdown and improve soil structure.

* I’ve used mulch extensively in the past…and currently. It is a must in our area due to soil dryness and evaporation. But it is also extremely important in our area for sun protection. If the soil here is exposed to direct sunlight it “bakes”…yes, literally bakes. It gets so hot that you touch it and it is hot enough to cause pain. That kills a lot of the good stuff in soil such as microbes, worms, etc. And the surface of the soil gets to baked hard that when it does rain the water just runs off.

Peat Moss –

Peat moss is partially decomposed moss material harvested from peat bogs broken down over thousands of years. Peat moss can hold a lot of moisture. It loosens compacted soil and helps create kind of a fluffy root-friendly soil structure. Which makes it great for seed mixes and potting soil. It is acidic so it lowers pH. And that makes it good for blueberries and potatoes…somewhat. It is not ideal in huge amounts for everything. There is little to no nutrition in it; Coco Coir is a better option. Compost is the best alternative. Peat moss improves water holding — but compost improves soil life. Peat moss has fallen out of favor in recent years among some gardeners.

* I’ve used peat moss a lot over the years, far less this year than previous years. Why? I am switching over to using more compost that peat moss. And where I need more “life” in the soil…worm castings is for me. I’ve used peat moss when starting seeds…and will continue to do so as part of the seedling mix.

Perlite/Pumice –

Perlite is expanded volcanic glass; basically volcanic rock heated until it “pops” like popcorn. Which in turn creates lightweight white porous particles. Improves drainage, adds air pockets (roots need oxygen), and reduces soil compaction (add a bit of fluffy to the soil structure). No real nutrients; it improves the physical soil structure. Normally, compost is usually a more valuable option. Vermiculite is an alternative. Vermiculite is not as good with drainage, but better at water retention. Pumice is pretty much the same as perlite…used interchangeably. The biggest advantage to pumice is its weight. Perlite is very light and will float and/or blow away; pumice is heavier and will stay put longer. It also keeps its structure longer as well.

* I’ve used perlite a lot and will continue to do so in the right application requirement. I’m not real crazy that it floats and can blow away. It is good in seedling mix. I’ve not used pumice and no intention to use it in the future but it is a valid option to avoid it blowing away.

Seaweed/Kelp –

Kelp/seaweed is made from ocean seaweed, usually kelp. “It is used primarily as a liquid fertilizer—not a heavy fertilizer—but as a source of micronutrients and trace minerals.” It helps plants handle heat, drought, transplant shock, and other environmental stresses. For root development kelp can stimulate root growth and branching. It is really good for seedlings and transplanting. And it is a boost for microbes, especially when you combine it with compost and/or worm castings. Look at kelp as more valuable as a plant health “tonic” than as fertilizer.

* I’ve not used seaweed based fertilizers so I have no first-hand experience with it.

Vermiculite –

Vermiculite is actually a naturally occurring mineral heated until it expands into lightweight flaky particles/granules. Vermiculite absorbs a lot of moisture, more than perlite or pumice. Unlike perlite, vermiculite can retain nutrients somewhat which helps reduce nutrient leaching out of the soil. When seed starting it is excellent for germination and keeping seeds evenly moist…great in seed-starting mixes. The downside…too much vermiculite can reduce oxygen and create soggy soil. Great for sandy soils as well…holds in moisture and releases it slowly. Compost, mulch, and worm castings are alternatives to seriously consider. Comparison…perlite fights soggy soil, vermiculite fights dry soil.

* This year I really started using vermiculite and I love it. It is a perfect product to help with our sandy soil. The first time I used was about 17 years ago when I planted a pine tree in horrible dead compacted sandy soil. I used the large granular variety and it was amazing! Made a huge difference in the soil and the tree grew like crazy.

Worm Castings –

Worm castings are basically premium compost processed through earthworms. Process is worms eat organic material, microbes help break it down in the worm’s digestive system, and then worms excrete highly stable nutrient-rich material. Yup…worm poop. Worm castings are very gentle and they are beneficial to microbes, soil “life”, and nutrient cycling adding to long-term plant and soil health. Worm poop contains microbes, enzymes, humic substances (humic substances formed from long-term decomposition of organic matter…ancient plant material and other composted organic matter), and nutrients. For seed starting it is fantastic! For transplant recovery it is awesome. Compared to compost…compost feeds the soil, worm castings supercharge the soil.

* This year was the first year using worm poop. I really like the stuff. I’ve used organic 100% worm castings that I bought from Lowes and Home Depot…both are great, both worked, Home Depot was a bit less expensive…$1.67 vs $1.87. I bought a bag from Amazon about $1.10 per pound in a 40lb bag. The stuff from Amazon was also organic, but I had “Worm Egg Material” in it as well. The product emphasizes that the worm eggs are the cocoons worms lay plus tiny balls of soil and bedding bits not eaten by worms, designed to enhance microbial activity in your soil. In the product description; “A Chance for Worms – Worm eggs may hatch in soil, adapt, and begin to help improve soil quality.” So I have no problems or issues with the addition of the “Worm Egg Material” in with the organic worm castings…might actually be better due to the chance of worms hatching.

NOTE: “These are my experiences and observations gardening; results may vary depending on climate and soil conditions.”

In the next article I will talk a bit about how I mix different amendments.

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

It’s getting close to panting time so that means getting my raised beds ready for all those new plants coming from my greenhouse. I built the beds a couple of years ago and here’s how I “built” the dirt for them < click here >. Last year I had to add a bit of dirt & compost to fill them back up due to some settling…which is normal. This year I have to do the same but it will be far less to add.

I wrote about mulch/compost < click here > which I will be adding today. The “fill” today will be the bulk compost from the local green recycler which also happens to be owned by Gro-Well.

Note: No, that first picture above is not of my raised bed. I created it with AI just because I could and I thought it would be cool.

Starting out the bed doesn’t look all that bad, some weeds, but too much sand/dirt, not enough organic matter. Weeds are not bad at all. Yeah, you can see my garden/spade/digging fork in the background. I won’t be using a shovel…no need to. The “fork” does a much better job of mixing the soil and breaking up any “clods” of dirt.

First pass is just taking out the weeds.

Then I go down each side and turn over the existing dirt. I don’t get too crazy, just push that fork in and turnover whatever comes up.

Then comes the “amendments”.
I sprinkle in about 2 cups of a 4-4-4 organic fertilizer to provide nutrients to the entire bed. This is about a 50sq’ bed, use your best judgement on how much fertilizer you should put in your bed(s)…yeah, follow the bag’s instructions.
Since this bed has a higher volume of dirt (and some clay), I am also adding about one #10 can of  bio-char (I will post an article about bio-char later…in a week or so).

Here’s an up close picture of what the amendments look like.

I then added 8 5-gal buckets of the compost on top of that. Then that all gets turned in/over once again.

Here’s a “hack” for you…I then watered it with a pretty high concentration of 5-1-1 Alaska fish based liquid fertilizer.
Why?
Because the chunkier pieces of “compost” will take/borrow nitrogen from the soil to feed the microbes that will break those woody pieces down into fine/better compost. And that nitrogen that it uses will not be available to the plants in a week or two when I transplant…or for another couple of months, etc. So, the addition of the liquid nitrogen fertilizer will be used to feed the microbes and leave the nitrogen in the soil. Yes, once the microbes have used the nitrogen to breakdown the chunks, the nitrogen will be available once again for the plants to use.

Finally, I raked it all out to a pretty decent looking bed. I will water it a couple of times before I plant to make sure the soil is at least damp and to help out the microbes. Also, it activates the organic fertilizer so it releases into the soil.
And don’t get carried away…I will turn it all over once more time, then rake it out before I do the actual planting. That ensures everything is well mixed in and ready to grow some amazing tomatoes.

Here’s a close-up of what the soil looks like when I was all done. When I do the actual transplant I will use a “planting soil” mix that isn’t quite so chunky. But, I wouldn’t have to…there is nothing wrong with this soil for growing healthy and happy plants.

Couple Extra Notes –

1. If I had too much clay soil in the bed I would add more bio-char, a healthy amount of perlite and more compost.
2. If I had too much sand I would add a bunch of bio-char, a healthy amount of vermiculite and more compost.
3. For any older bed or a known nutrient poor bed, but the soil had a good composition, I would use worm castings, bio-char, and an organic fertilizer such as 4-4-4 or 5-5-5.
4. If I had too much compost in my bed then I would use perlite and coarse sand to give it more structure. If the compost is really dense, not chunky, then I would add in small, aged, wood chips. But remember, those chips will borrow nitrogen from the soil as the microbes break them down…so add a nitrogen amendment helper.
5. If I was really worried that my soil wasn’t good enough then I would use a planting mix for the hole I put my plant in. That means fill in around my plant with worm castings. Then use it as a top dressing, about 1/4″ or so.

Related Articles –

• How to make dirt…Part #1
• GARDEN : Let’s talk mulch…ah, compost…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

Follow-up article from < GARDEN : Planting butternut squash, cantaloupe, & watermelon… >

Note: Originally written on April 28th, updated on May2nd.

I’ve been working on a melon patch for a couple months. Why? Last couple of years we simply grew more watermelon, cantaloupe, and squash plants and fruit than we had room for. A lot of it went to waste just because we couldn’t even see the fruit. Decision last fall was to get the large vine type plants out of the raised beds and into the ground outside of the garden area to let them spread out. But, as you’ve read before…our dirt sucks! Dead, dry, packed concrete, and just plain sucky!

I picked a spot last year and started adding organic matter into 4 rows with the rotor-tiller. Then a bit of soil conditioner, some perlite, some vermiculite, and a spot of organic fertilizer…then more organic matter. Tilled it all in about 10” – 12” deep maybe 4 – 5 times overall. The ground was no longer packed dead dirt…looking decent.

Early this spring…I added compost, more soil conditioner, more organic fertilizer…then more organic matter. Looking really good!

At the end of March, before the big freeze, I planted two butternut squash plants to give them a jump start on the season. They made it through the big freeze…or so I thought. Nope…they didn’t…well, kinda.

Before I noticed an issue I decided to plant more in the “patch” to get an early start…extend the growing season. I planted; 2 more butternut, 2 cantaloupe, and 2 watermelon plants. Why an early start? Butternut squash takes about 90 – 120 days from seed planting to harvest…of the first fruit. And for cantaloupe and watermelon is about 75 – 100 days. Depending on the weather flowering is 40 – 60 days. I figured I could get my plants to the flowering stage in the greenhouse…then only about 60 days to harvest…depending on weather. Our growing season…June 1^st still has a 10% chance of frost. The first frost usually hits between October 1 and the 17^th. So that is a clear window of 120 days +/- of growing fruit…if I start the plants in the greenhouse.

First two…

Then I got brave and six more plants went into the ground about 10 days later…eight plants in total were in the ground…then another cold night hit…then another…then one of the original butternut plants started looking like this…

Yeah, not real healthy, eh? Leaves are not supposed to look brown and black.

A little research and unknown to me…squash, melon, and cantaloupe plants suffer below 50° at night. And they really start to fade below 40° at night. If you are wondering…yes, I covered them at night with quilts. Butternut plants showed real signs of stress. Then I made the decision…dig them back up and put them back in the greenhouse. Not an ideal solution but better than losing them all together.

And then it all looked liked this…

Yup! I dug them back up, potted the, and they now live in the greenhouse again. Forget the yellow lilies…they go on the flower mound.

So 10 days later that beat-up butternut squash with the black and brown leaves…

I cut back on the water for a couple of days, then cut off a couple of the worst leaves. Then as new leaves came on I cut off the next couple of the worst leaves. I kept repeating that until I got this…a once again healthy butternut squash plant.

A week later…
1) kept trimming off the dead and sad looking leaves
2) a few days ago I did a liquid fish fertilizer 5-1-1 to bring back the green and encourage growth.
3) Two days ago I did a blood meal fertilizer 12-0-0 for a bit more nitrogen to continue improving its health, encouraging growth, and getting the nice pretty green back.

I will be planting…actually, replanting…the melon patch…or at least starting to…later this week. This plant will not be one of the first to go back in. I want to give it plenty of time to recover.

Related Articles –

• GARDEN : Planting butternut squash, cantaloupe, & watermelon…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

Time to get them in the ground and growing ! !

Note: Originally written in mid-April…the actual planting took place at the end of March.

It’s early but it looks like no more freezes at night…time to get them in the ground. Why an early start? Butternut squash takes about 90 – 120 days from seed planting to harvest…of the first fruit. And for cantaloupe and watermelon is about 75 – 100 days. Depending on the weather flowering is 40 – 60 days. I figured I could get my plants to the flowering stage in the greenhouse…then only about 60 days to harvest…depending on weather. Our growing season…June 1^st still has a 10% chance of frost. The first frost usually hits between October 1 and the 17^th. So that is a clear window of 120 days +/- of growing fruit…if I start the plants in the greenhouse. Lot’s more fruit and fruit earlier 🙂

I plant a couple different ways depending on what I am planting. In this case butternut squash, watermelon, and my favorite…cantaloupe. Plants such as tomatoes can use really high-quality soil to make better tasting fruit and healthier plants. What I am planting today only needs good or decent soil so I plant differently.

See, I could mix up a big batch of high-quality planting soil and just use that for everything…but that would be a waste of that soil…and cost too much. But I still use it, just differently. I will explain in the pictures below.

I start off digging my hole at least twice as deep and twice as wide as the container that is holding the plant. I go deeper if the soil is poor quality. Once the hole is dug I add about 1/2tbsp of a balanced organic fertilizer such as a 4-4-4. I then use my trowel to rough it into the soil at the bottom of the hole. Then throw in a handful of my high-quality planting soil and stir it all up nicely. If you have time…like planting the next day…and you are planting in really dry soil, fill the hole with water and allow it to soak into the ground overnight. I build up the soil in the hole until the surface of the soil in the container will be even with, or slightly below, the soil in the container.

I can tell the plant is ready to be put in the ground. Nice root ball but not over crowded. You don’t want a dense & crowded root ball…that means the plant was stressed trying to grow roots with nowhere for them to go.
If there are fewer roots than what is showing…I put the plant back into the container and back into the greenhouse.

I break-up (gently loosen) the root ball a bit to encourage the plant to spread out its roots. I don’t get too crazy…just gently loosen them up as you can see.
If you plant a bound up root ball you will probably get a stunted plant with less growth than it could have.

I place the plant in the hole and add some of that planting soil for the first inch or two around the plant. Then comes a layer of native soil, then about 1/4sbsp of the 4-4-4 organic fertilizer. Then I gently stir that up and repeat the process until I reach about 1/2″ below the surface of soil around the plant.

When I get about 1″ from flush I add the final layer of native soil.

Then comes about 1/2 – 1tbsp of the fertilizer around the drip edge. I will use more fertilizer if the soil is really in bad shape.

Then finally top it off with the planting soil and gently mixed in and pressed down ever so gently and slightly. Then watered in thoroughly. If you want to water it in with each layer combination that is fine with me.

Then finally, once it has been watered in, I mulched around the plant with grass clippings…about 2 – 3″ or so. Then the protective fencing…protects against the rabbits who sneak into the yard at night…and two dogs that thinks organic fertilizer is an appetizer.

Then came the irrigation and this it what I ended up with…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.