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Old 24-03-2010, 04:12 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
Billy[_10_] Billy[_10_] is offline
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Default Tomatoes - Ace versus Early Girl versus ?

In article
,
Pat Kiewicz wrote:

Billy said:

Pat Kiewicz wrote:


Sand seems like it should be different. Less retentive ability to hold
moisture and nutrients, would justify a tree sending out roots
everywhere looking for nourishment.
Besides the roots, what else do you do to your sandy soil to make it
suitable for gardening?


LOTS of compost and mulch, prior heavy applications of ground limestone
and other mineral soil amendments. It's made a huge difference.
It does take a bit of water to keep things going around here, though.


I have the opposite problem, heavy clay. Organic mater and sand have
improved my situation greatly. Now I rely on rye and earthworms to
complete the soil transformation. I'm trying to switch out the rye for
buckwheat (both put amazing amounts of roots into the soil) because
buckwheat is high in rutin, which would make it healthy for the soil,
and healthy for me.

Have you added any clay to your garden? It would help with water and
nutrient retention.

With all that sand, are there earthworms in your garden? Any idea of the
biotic community in the garden soil?


It's a fossil sand dune,
and the sand goes down for 10 feet at least, probably much more.


This I know nothing about. Is a fossil sand dune still just sand or does
it have other characteristics?


It's a sand dune that used to be perched along the shore of a vastly
larger Lake Erie, shortly after the glaciers retreated. South of us the
land is lower and flatter, with much heavier soils (the old lake bed).
It's been several thousands of years since that sand was blowing.


And several thousand years in the making before that.


You can still see active sand dunes along the coast of Lake Michigan,
and as you move inland from that lake there are successive bands of
older dunes (or what I have referred to as 'fossil' dunes).


I wouldn't have thought of lakes as having sand dunes. California lakes
must just be too small to have this feature.

This year I have to start a new strawberry bed, as the old one is
really in decline. Best be prepared for some major tree root removal
when I renovate it...


Sounds like a challenge, given the breadth and depth of your root
problems.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html