I've been away for more than a month, and although Himself did a lot of watering, there are some places where the soil has dried out to such an extent that it's now baked and water repellant and all attempts at normal watering (ie hoses and sprinklers) are proving fruitless.
How have others coped with this other than puddling and making mud pies? This does seem to work, but I'm sure there will be some reason why I shouldn't do this even though it can't be because of soil structure since where there is none to begin with once it's as dry as a chip. I also do not like using soil wetting agents since I've never been able to find out what it does to earth worms and I know they will return eventually, once it rains or the winter comes and the weather cools.
if you are talking about a large area, hmm, guess i would tackle it in parts by covering it with whatever i could find and then watering it. making the most effort around plants i wanted to save.
With a hose-end sprayer, apply a mix of water and mild, unscented liquid soap. The soap will act as a wetting agent. You want it unscented so that it does not attract bees, hornets, and wasps.
After you get the soil a bit damp, apply a generous amount of gypsum. Lightly water the gypsum to just damp it and prevent it from blowing in the wind. Two days later, water it a bit more to start disolving it but without any runoff. Two days after that, water it well (but not to the point of runoff) to start leaching it into the soil.
How big is the area? If feasible,use a pick axe or mattock to break up at least the first few inches so slow long watering can start to penetrate. Guaranteed sore back and muscles, but a virtuous feeling of accomplishment. Worst comes to worst, pay a local teenager to do it.
I had wondered if using old fashioned clothes washing soap agitated in water till I got a froth of bubbles on the surface of the water would work.
I guess that liquid hand soap or possibly even kitchen dish detergent would also work, but then again, what about (future) worms I ask myself.
Does Gypsum work as a wetting agent in some way?
I'll give that a try - I've got a spot where I intend to plant a bush once cooler weather comes as Autumn approaches and that I should start preparing now so your method sounds like it's work a try. I'll report on how I get on.
Sadly that doesn't work. All the water does is to run off below the mulch/shredded stuff on top. I'll give a specific example even though it applies in many places in my garden
I planted some blueberry bushes this year and although they are coping with the heat and baking sunlight and even growing a bit and putting on new leaves slowly, I decided that they needed a larger root run rather than the area close to their newly planted holes.
They've always had a big area of mulch around them but I tried to water over the bigger area and all the water did was to run off once the watering extended beyond the 'saucer' area in which the bushes had been planted.
Where you live, you probably need to plant on mounds so that water round the roots runs off, here it's imperative to plant in saucer shaped depressions to keep water near the roots.
Smallish in some places such as round some specific plants such as the blueberries I mentioned in another response, but in some areas it's bed sized. I'm really only going to concentrate on the more endangered areas at the moment - it's too darned hot to do anything more enervating.
If feasible,use a pick axe or mattock to break up at least the first few inches so slow long watering can start to penetrate.
The soil isn't compacted and can easily be turned with a fork or spade so opening it up isn't an issue.
I've tried the long slow watering and I can't understand where the sodding water goes. About 2mm on the top is moist even after a couple of hours of watering and below that the soil is like dust. It's almost like I'm watering some crop in China through some secret hidden pipe that is stealing my water.
Making mud pies using a hand trowel and stirring as I water with a hand held hose works, but for some reason the long slow watering (which I too think SHOULD work) doesn't seem to.
:-)) I do agree about the great feeling that gives. I have a number of 'mattocks' that are recycled, welded up then sharpened bitzers that are made from the leaf springs from cars. They are superb to use even for a woman of my years. I can swing one or other of them for hours and not feel any ill effects unlike the big, real mattock that we have stuffed in the back of the shed somewhere.
No, gypsum is not a wetting agent. The original message in this thread mentioned soil that has very poor tilth (soil structure). Gypsum (calcium sulphate) reacts with compacted soil -- especially clay -- to make it porous and granular, to improve tilth.
If you can dissolve gypsum and get the solution to penetrate the soil, you should find that subsequent watering attempts should be successful. That is why I suggested starting with liquid soap as a wetting agent and then applying gypsum. First get the soil damp (wetting agent). Then apply gypsum and get it moist only enough to keep it in place in case there is wind. Then start it dissolving. Finally, rinse it into the soil. This can take 2-3 weeks. At each step, try to avoid any runoff.
scrape a bit of an edge up to hold the water in or make the saucers larger?
yes, most of the plants here need dryer than what they get and the risks of flooding make it pretty normal for us to put most plants up on hills or mounds or raised beds.
from what you wrote in the other response you have a lot of fine dust. that would be tough to get wetted again.
i'd still make sure there was mulch on top and then make sure to spray that mulch (not putting water through it) so that it can slowly drip down on the soil below. from your description you say the water goes right through the mulch and runs off the soil. to me that says you are using too much water and pouring it through the mulch. instead, use a fine mist to keep wetting the mulch. spray it several times a day.
We get backpackers working here sometimes. Most of them are good workers and we try to match the work to their capabilities. We had a young lady from Japan who weighed in at about 41kgs (85lbs for those who live in the boonies). At one point I handed her a mattock which she managed to hang on to with difficulty and then she very politley asked what did I expect her to do with it. I recovered my senses and took it back and gave her trowel. A while later a strapping Austrian lad (whose hero was Arnie Swarzzennegger) declared " I liiiike to diiiig". I thought to myself, I have just the thing for you my boy.
Not enough details (climate, area size, growing?) but it's really a no-brainer... the best way to improve adobe-like soil is to till in organic matter and rich topsoil... invest in a Mantis tiller, a truckload of good topsoil, many bags of peat moss, and begin a composting program... over watering hard soil will just make a mess and when it dries it'll make your soil even harder. There's no magic bullet... you need to WORK at it... standing there with a garden hose only demonstrates gross laziness.
Peat moss! Far too expensive. Why use an expensive limited resource like peat that must be transported long distances (Fran is Southern highlands NSW and the nearest peat bogs are in Tasmania) when some other local source of organic material will do as well and be much cheaper. Peat moss is not available cheaply around the world, stop being so parochical.
and begin a
Why is it that even when seeming to be helpful you must put your strange insulting slant on everything. You know nothing about people but offer them gratuitious insult anyway. If Fran is anything like the farming women I know round here she has been working from daylight til dark these last 50 years and is only now slowing down as her body just can't do it any more. regardless of the that you are such an ignorant, boorish oaf. Come back when you can be civil.
Now that sounds interesting. I'm wondering if they suggested molasses because it would help with keeping/fostering biota?????
I have a massive drum of molasses in the shearing shed which is a left over from when there were horses here. I'll hunt it out and give it a try.
Both of those make good sense, The latter suggestion is similar to my 'mud pie' making tactics so I know that will work.
That suggestion is interesting too but all I know about Bentonite is that it is traditionally used to stop leaks in dams ('ponds' in USian??) if a farm has a leaking dam, bags of bentonite are poured in to stop the leak.
I'd say a tentative 'yes'. I've been gradually going round and paying close attention to spots within areas where he just applies a blanket watering. Working as a team seems to be a bit more effective in getting water to the really precious things but it's still just about survival and I'm not expecting things to do any thriving - that would be a bridge too far.
We got a bit of rain yesterday (Hallellula!) and so that will help. Nothing, but nothing can ever replace the effectiveness of rain. I suspect the only thing to do from now on is to completely cover the more sensitive growing area (veg) with shade cloth in high summer and either never go away for more than a few days, or just admit that it's time to move to the burbs or bring in a bulldozer and get rid of the lot and then lay down pebbles.
Yep, dust is it. And anything vegetative mixed into the soil or on top of the soil is like it's been discovered in an ancient tomb so it's dry to the point of total desiccation.
Tried both of those in the past with the exception of the 'several times a day' - it's morning and/or evening only in our summer conditions and even then unless it's overcast and there is no wind, microsprays are a very 'iffy' use of water - almost always a waste of time and for some reason mulch just adds to the problem when it's already dry under the mulch. I don't really understand why the mulch doesn't help but it doesn't until the soil is moist and then it can do it's traditional soil protecting job.
We seem to be getting there slowly but progress is not fast. Mud pies making still seem to be the most effective method with the most threatened smaller plants but I am worried about some of the trees.
:-)) I wish I WAS in the Southern Highlands of NSW.
That is where I was when my garden dried out despite Himself's good efforts.
We live even further south than the Highlands. We live in the Tablelands and I am pea green with envy at the growing conditions in the Southern Highlands. They have basalt soil and regular rainfall and, to put the icing on the cake, nighttime mists in summer. Not only do they have moist growing conditions in great soil but it's also cool enough to sleep at night. Lucky sods, but then they do pay for it given the price of all the real estate round there.
when some other
I've read and responded to posts from Sheldon in various newsgroups for about 15 years - maybe more. In one of the previous newsgroups we both used to post to (misc.rural), I wrote quite often about our farm and our animals and other aspects of my life. Sheldon obviously doesn't remember that.
In contrast, I have paid some attention and still possess some retentive memory so I know that Sheldon cooks for himself (but nothing that I would consider to be challenging or out of the ordinary), lives on a nice, neatly kept piece of land, that he lives fairly quietly on his land, that he regularly attends to maintenance tasks and seems to enjoy doing so, that he is not lazy, that he is interested in birds and wildlife, takes nice pics quite often and posts them for others to see also quite often, that he likes to own and use PTO driven devices to help keep his land neat and that we've never thought we would ever need even though we live in a place that is officially recognised by the Tax Office as a being a real, money earning 'farm'.
I also know from having read him for so long that he regularly makes gratuitously offensive sexual references that most men I know would also find offensive. He's a curmudgeon. He seems to go out of his way to try to be insulting and frequently insists that others need to do things his way and that others need to possess all the tools and boy's toys he feels the need to own.
He's never been the least bit subtle in his insults and so, in my opinion, is not very effective because of his transparency.
If Fran is anything like the farming
:-)) Well in many ways (chooks, food growing/preserving, garden, cooking, cattle work, fencing, shelter belt planting) I am like many farm wives. But I also went out to full time work and earned very good money for many years. We both did, which of course is why we can still manage to live on cattle producing land in retirement.
let us know if it does seem to make any difference.
i'm not sure what their reasoning was other than perhaps it would help as a wetting and clumping agent. encouraging biota would be the great side benefit. that you have it on hand is great. i'll be listening... :) :)
this morning i was feeding the worm bins (nos 5 through 15) to get them ramped up for spring. i had stuff from garlic, and a whole bucket of chopped dried alfalfa and trefoil, along with the usual veggie scraps. after a bit i decided to take a few cups of the worm castings and put them on top of the potted plants i'd recently repotted, to give the potting soil a boost of bacteria, fungi and perhaps a few very tiny worms. after doing that and watering them well i was rinsing out the small container i used and was thinking of you down there trying to get very fine soil to wet and how nice those little worm castings were staying together even though they were soaking in water. so for the longer term, encourage worms however you can. they'll clump some of that dusty soil together.
i also had someone post a short article about how some of what happen with superdry dusty soil is that the plant waxes coat the soil particles making it so tough to get wet and hold moisture again. another good reason to have worms as the passing of dirt through the gut of a worm will grind all those pieces together making it much easier to wet again. not counting all the other benefits.
and when it rains, run out and pull some of the mulch back from your favorite plants or those in the most risk as then the water can reach the soil easier. then when it stops raining put the mulch back over. leave some mulch in the rain, of course, to protect the soil, but if you have a really deep layer it sure doesn't hurt to peel some of it back until you know you are getting plenty of rains again.
yes, we tend to call them ponds here, i think most people think of things like Hoover Dam when they hear the word dam being used. around here it is so flat that ponds are not in danger of leaking, they are just deepened spots in the property where it suits. this whole area used to be pretty much nothing but wooded swamps, and of course, ages ago an inland sea, glaciers, etc.
oh, that's great! yes, i know how that feels when it is so hot and dry and all you are hoping for is a decent long spell of nice gentle rains to soak everything down. i hope the weather continues to favor you there.
yeah, things grow ok here with our well water, but they do much better with rain. trace nutrients and a bit of nitrogen come along with rains in our area.
i'm not sure what you already have in place, but things like shelter belts, and wind breaks can also help a lot. and interplanting with deep rooted perennials (chop some back every once in a while), they'll help keep things cooler, protect the soil from evaporation losses and bring up both moisture and nutrients from further down than most garden veggies will go.
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