Conditioning your Soil vs. Feeding your Plants
My overall feeling about fertilizing is that we need to start training ourselves to think of ‘Conditioning our Soil’ instead of ‘Feeding our Plants’.
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Healthy soil serves several functions: 1) it consists of loose particles (good for water, nutrient and air flow) as well as home to a gazillion beneficial micro-organisms that 2) help fight disease and other pests, and 3) help break organic products down into nutrients the plants can use.
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I’m definitely not a big “man-made chemical based fertilizer” fan, as they’re usually just ‘quick fixes’ for green-ing up leaves and for super fast new growth. While they may make your garden greener, they’re actually very ‘un-green’. In fact, in the long run these type of ‘insta-green’ fertilizers can cause more harm than good, as these chemicals are usually very high in salts which build up and damage healthy soil. Once you start killing off your soil’s existing beneficial micro-organisms, you’re asking for a whole world of problems for your plants, and you start to become more and more dependent on chemical fertilizers. I call these so-called fertilizers a gardener’s ‘gateway’ drug… JUST SAY NO!!!
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Adding compost, preferably your own, is usually the best way to naturally condition your soil. Don’t worry if you don’t have your own composter, you can always buy bags really great quality ORGANIC compost. If you don’t buy organic compost, you’d better check the ingredients as lots of times there’s weird stuff added as filler. The organic compost you can buy at the nursery is already aged and ready to spread, so just sprinkle it around the base of your plants (taking care not to pile it up around your plants base, but rather around it’s root zone). I do this in the Fall when I know a big rain is about to come – that way I can let Mother Nature dilute it for me, and let it start slowly working it’s way down into the soil over the Winter.
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Besides adding your own compost here’s a product I highly recommend (and NO – I’m not getting paid to endorse their product!)
As some of you may know, Fine Gardening magazine came to my home this past May to photograph one of my client’s garden. I had about 5 months notice, and was NOT going to be caught with my OWN garden looking sub-par. So, I asked around at my local nursery (Yamagami’s – one of the BEST in the Bay Area) and was told about a product that’s been showing amazing results in conditioning the soil. It’s not cheap but I figured I’d give it a try. All I can say is HOLY COW THIS STUFF IS AMAZING!
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Because I’m the furthest thing from a scientist, I’ll just quote the back of the package: “…this true humus is mined from a unique deposit of leonardite in New Mexico. This deposit has been composting for thousands of years, making it far more concentrated and richer than surface-decomposed humus…while particially decomposed humus products still have to continue composting after application, John & Bob’s Soil Optimizer begins to recondition at the molecular level as soon as it is watered into your soil. After treatment, your soil will store and release nutrients and water to plant life much more efficiently.”
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I used it ONCE in January (taking advantage of our Winter rains to thoroughly soak it into the ground) and 3 months later noticed a huge jump in the growth of my garden. It’s now been 9 months and my garden is still going strong – with plants that are typically pale and needing food by now, looking vibrant. I plan on using this product twice a year (their recommendations), versus the ‘other’ man-made products which recommend using their products every few weeks.
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Another bonus? It couldn’t be easier to use – just fill a rotary spreader, set it to the recommended setting, and you’re done in just minutes.
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October 13th, 2009 saat: 11:08 am
Wow! That’s a pretty strong endorsement there Rebecca. Humates & products like this are definitely good stuff and it sounds like you’ve gotten a pretty good return on your investment with just one application. Might have to give this one a go myself.
October 13th, 2009 saat: 11:29 am
I’m impressed that you’re so impressed by this product, Rebecca. Will definitely check it out. Thanks for the information… Teresa
October 13th, 2009 saat: 11:29 am
Yep – you’d think I was an investor, huh? Seriously – this stuff is the BEST! Definitely worth the money (though don’t expect instant results – it takes a few months…)
October 13th, 2009 saat: 11:31 am
I’m sure you’ll love it, too – remember, though, it takes a few months to see the results. You’ll just be going about your business, then all of a sudden one day you’ll say “Jeez…why is my garden looking so awesome?”…then it’ll hit you “oh yeah – it was that optimizer stuff…” Watch – you’ll see!
October 13th, 2009 saat: 12:12 pm
I totally agree with the distinction between fertilization and soil conditioning — I think it is an important difference most gardening books do really emphasize.
But your glowing review will certainly get me to read more about it.
I have to admit, I’m instinctively skeptical about the Soil Optimizer… Just because I am an instinctively skeptical person
October 13th, 2009 saat: 12:19 pm
Okay, I just quickly skimmed some of the science on this stuff, and it looks like there is some evidence it works — but not really as a soil conditioner. Rather, it seems to have a hormone-like effect on plants, and also promote plant uptake of other nutrients from the soil. Sounds cool! I might have to try playing with it.
October 13th, 2009 saat: 12:33 pm
I’m a skeptical person, too, so I totally agree with you being a little leery. John and Bob are both wonderful Landscape Designers (maybe even Architects?) and I’ve seen lots of their work in magazines and around locally and I guess I tend to trust fellow gardeners – especially when I’ve seen such great results myself! Thanks, Joseph, for also taking the time to include more detail…I appreciate your depth of knowledge and sense of humor!
October 13th, 2009 saat: 12:45 pm
Good to hear that you have had good results. I’ve heard customers raving about the product, but they gave very little details other than their garden was somehow “better.” That just didn’t seem like enough for me to pony up the amount needed to purchase a bag. But, your time line of how long it made an impact in your garden is impressive.
I have a question though, did you amend the soil in any other way? Compost, manure, etc?
October 13th, 2009 saat: 1:15 pm
Hi Kat – that was the only thing I did, besides my annual application of chicken manure. My garden was so much better than it normally is (even with the chicken manure) and I can’t wait to see what it looks like this Spring after my second application…
October 14th, 2009 saat: 8:39 am
I love it! Fertilizer as a gateway drug. I’ll be quoting that one to clients for sure!
October 14th, 2009 saat: 12:44 pm
I whole heartily agree! I use manure in my garden in the fall. It really helps my blooms come spring. Great tips.
October 15th, 2009 saat: 8:43 am
Can this be spread on top of mini bark which I just put down…or better to wait until it all blows away like it always does?
October 15th, 2009 saat: 1:41 pm
While it’s best to move away the bark, sprinkle it around & water it in – honestly, who has the time for that? I just sprinkled mine around on top of it and still got great results…though it may have taken a bit longer. Either that or wait for your gardener to blow away your bark for you….
October 19th, 2009 saat: 1:37 pm
Rebecca yours has been by far the most convincing endorsement for this product so I’ve taken the plunge and picked up a bag. The soil here is horrible clay, so this will be a pretty good test. It’s going to go on just as soon as I finish my fall leaf clean up.
October 19th, 2009 saat: 1:42 pm
Please make sure you let me know if you had great results, too. But remember – it takes a few months to start showing – especially if you apply it in the Fall – it should start looking better than ever in April…
October 24th, 2009 saat: 4:07 pm
That’s awesome, Rebecca. I have heard great things about John and Bob’s but have only tried it on one garden so far. It seemed to work well there, but it coincided with a compost application, so hard to say which helped more. I’m going to prioritize this in January and test it in some of my troubled spots in gardens. (off to tweet about it now)
October 26th, 2009 saat: 8:52 am
Great! Let me know how it works for you – I’m sure you’ll love it….
April 15th, 2010 saat: 9:51 am
Has anyone tried the John and Bob’s Liquid BioTiller?
With all the clay soil around the Bay area, I would think that someone has. I would love to hear if it works…
April 15th, 2010 saat: 2:26 pm
Hmmm….I haven’t tried it, but will most definitely buy some next time I’m at the nursery. I’ll let you know what my results are!