Fertile Soil Islands- part II

When going with the fertile soil island approach for converting lawn to garden be sure to be generous with the amount of good soil you put into each spot.  This is especially important if you have much clay under your lawn.  If too little soil is used, the roots of the plant you put into it may become root bound similar to that of a plant which is planted in a small pot.  For cuccumbers, squash, zuchinni, pumpkins, peppers, and egg plant; three large shovel fulls of soil removed and replaced with good soil should suffice.  For tomatoes, use enough soil to fill a five gallon bucket.  For potatoes, don't remove the poor soil for creating a hole to put in good soil.  Instead, break up the clay soil and mix in some good soil.  For leafy greens, forget the fertile soil island approach and build yourself a raised bed over the lawn using the sheet mulching technique.

Fertile Soil Islands

In researching how to have a great garden one will quickly read about the importance of having great soil.  Great soil in my opinion is of the utmost importance to gardening success.  Obtaining and preventing its loss should be goal number one before planting a single seed.  Dark soil, rich in organic material, intertwined with a living matrix of fungi and earthworms, that is well aerated, but  yet capable of holding onto moisture not only makes  for great growing but also significantly reduces labor by reducing need for watering.  I have to admit that I have tried cheating in this category to expand my garden’s size without spending too much money.   Instead of buying compost, I purchased loam screened from tree stumps and mixed it with peat moss.  The result was a soil that would grow vegetables, albeit with the need to use fertilizer and frequent irrigation.  Older parts of the garden in which I had used compost spread over an area previously tilled and planted with clover performed much better and required little watering even though the summer was dry.  Thus the difference between growing in a “living soil” verses growing in a dead soil.  Had I been wise, I should have bought compost and rather than spread it out all in one large area to make traditional rows, I should have strategically placed the more expensive soil into fertile islands.  Why spread the soil all in one area?  It is not like I need great soil for the areas I walk on.  Why not just put the good expensive soil in just the spots where the plants will be?  I did this one year with pumpkins and it worked great.  I removed three shovels full of soil and replaced it with compost in just the areas I wanted a plant.  For pumpkins and other vine type plants which likes lots of space like squash and cuccumbers, such a strategy works and will greatly reduce the amount of good soil used.  Although some garden experts will warn that trying to convert lawn to garden can result in disappointment, the use of creating fertile islands of soil can overcome the poor soils often found underneath lawns and allow significant acreage to be converted to garden for minimal expense.