It was a couple days ago that, at last, our region had its first, hard, killing freeze. Now, I’ve heard many say that we had a frost in December. While that is true that we saw ice crystals on the windshields of our vehicles as well as some on the ground, none of my tropical plants in my landscape showed evidence.
It was this past week, fully into 2025, that temperatures got low enough to kill all warm season vegetables that were still producing, as well as knock back tropical plants like banana trees, Canna lilies. and more.
But with a freeze behind us and looking months ahead to gardening, let us use this downtime to focus on your soil. Preparing your ground to grow vegetables can be an intimidating task. The soil you walk upon and dig in, is full of minerals, nutrients, microbial activity, living organisms, and more. Quality garden soil needs to be well-drained, amended with organic matter, and possibly limed.
A well-drained soil has everything to do with how quickly water will percolate through the soil. Many gardeners wrongly believe that a sloping ground that sheds water across the surface is “well drained”. Not so. Water must be allowed to move into the soil and then move thru out below it. Surface run-off is not to be confused with internally well-drained soil.
Much of our area is shallow topsoil over a clay subsoil that often holds water for a while. The question is often asked, “Can I just dig out a deep hole, fill it full of good soil,l and create a well-drained soil that way?”. Digging a hole like that will only create a big bowl of clay that will still hold water quite well.
The solution is a raised bed. Whether in rows down your garden or landscape beds edged with timber, stone, or other items, raising the level of the soil, in which the desired plants will grow, should aid greatly.
In addition, gardens always benefit from the addition of organic matter. That is so important that it bears repeating. All gardens benefit from the addition of organic matter.
Organic matter should be composted material. This compost can be from manures, lawn clippings, leaves or anything natural you can find. Many seasoned gardeners will till in leaves, pine straw, or other raw material into the soil many months before it is to be used. This allows the soil to create its own compost. At this writing in January, I would not advise new gardeners to till in a batch of tree leaves as they may not have enough time to break down before your early planted crops.
Organic matter really is the miracle cure for bad soils. Is your soil too sandy? Add organic matter. Is it nothing but clay? Add organic matter. The benefits of organic matter to soil are too numerous to extol here. Suffice it to say, composted organic matter adds nutrients, increases water holding capacity, improves soil structure, has numerous beneficial microbes, and prevents erosion.
If you wish to learn more about building your soil or building a raised bed, the Angelina County Extension office will be hosting a noon gardening seminar later this month on Tuesday, January 21. The focus is preparing your garden for the coming spring. Held from 12 noon to 1 pm, we will have two of our volunteer Master Gardeners speak. The Master Gardeners will be talking about how to use a raised bed, prepare the soil, and amend your soil for a tremendous growing season. Feel free to bring your lunch. There is no fee to attend.
