Environment – New gardens – from the ground up

There are many benefits to gardening. Whether want to grow flowers for the bees or salad for your lunch, it’s all possible in our climate. Here on the Coast, we have fabulous conditions for gardening. 

If you are new to gardening, then it’s a good idea to start small. One of the keys to a successful garden is creating and maintaining good soil health. Most plants prefer free draining soil with a neutral pH (around 7). Here on the Coast most of us have clay, which is on the acidic side (lower pH) so it will need some help. You can tell it is clay by the colour (ours is a light yellow). If you are not sure, squeeze some in your hand and if it sticks together, it has a high clay content. Clay is not bad, as it holds moisture and nutrients, but for the plants to be able to access the nutrients and not get waterlogged you need to improve the drainage. Garden lime powder (to increase the pH and make it less acidic), organic matter (dig in some vegie scraps), compost and gypsum (from garden/landscape stores) will help. I usually use a mixture of these depending on what I have at home. 

Don’t expect an instant fix – nature doesn’t work that way. But over time, these things will improve your soil.

If you’re nearer the beach you may have sandy soil which means it doesn’t hold water, so the nutrients wash away quickly. Sandy soil benefits from good compost mixed in to help the structure and hold the nutrients. There is a lot of science behind soil structure and health but for the purposes of a home garden most things can be fixed with a bit of lime, a bag of compost, a good water and layer of mulch.

To save money, and help the environment, even if you have quite a small space, consider starting a compost heap or worm farm to provide your own soil-improving materials. More on this in a later column.

Think of soil as a living thing that needs feeding, nurturing and protecting if it is to survive and produce healthy plants. A key thing to remember when working on your soil is to keep it covered, don’t expose it to the sun and rain which will kill off the top layer of soil microbes. Cover it with an organic mulch. This can be wood chips, hay, straw, newspaper, shredded cardboard, plant cuttings, anything that will break down and feed the soil and allow water and air to flow through to the microbes below.

Another option is growing in raised beds. These can be any structure raised above ground that allows you to bring in new soil for better drainage and easier soil management. At our Ōrewa Community Garden, we use raised beds so we can grow a wider range of crops on a sandy soil site.