Dirt Is Not Soil, Soil Is Not Dirt

One thing I have noticed recently is that every time I get together with girl friends we have a rousing chat about our hormones.  We can be talking about my garden blog or one of our kids and the conversation can flip in an instant to the state of our hormones.  Just last week I was at lunch with a group of girls and it took less than 30 minutes for us to spin ourselves right into talking about night sweats, the ebb and flow of our menstrual cycle, how many periods we have had in the last year, and most importantly what drugs we are taking to make/keep ourselves feeling sane. This was over LUNCH but it felt more like a 12 step group meeting where I could have stood up and said, "Hi my name is Mary and I am a pre-menopausal freak."   Thank goodness for my girl friends because I find out in those therapy sessions disguised as lunch that I am not alone, yes it CAN get worse, no it won't kill me, and I should probably jot down notes during my next hormonal moment so I can have a good story to tell at the next "lunch"!
What does all this have to do with gardening?  Absolutely nothing. But now that I am heading into menopause I have found that I can talk about it whenever I want. No one will stop me because it seems that most people, especially men, are scared to death of a woman when she says she is "hormonal". Perception is power, don't ever forget that.

Rant over, on to gardening.  Last week we talked about dirt.  This week we are going to talk about soil.  Dirt should not be confused with soil.  Soil is amended dirt. Here this might help. Dirt is like the B cup that the Lord gave you, soil is like the push up bra you bought at Victoria's secret to give yourself a C cup.  You just did a little amendment and you got something better.  Some people are okay with a little amendment others want complicated implants.  But implants require testing, invasive procedures and you really need an expert to make sure things don't get screwed up.  Why go and get implants when a push up bra will do?  Seriously though amending your soil can be tricky if you aren't careful. Too much nitrogen can produce beautiful green plants that don't bear fruit. Too much phosphorus hinders a plants ability to take up nutrients from the soil.  There is also much debate about the accuracy of home soil test kits.  I just try to keep it simple. It is really all I have time for and simple hasn't failed me yet.
In my area of Orange County the dirt, when dry, is like baby powder. You get it wet and some of the dirt floats up; it also takes forever for the water to soak in and become really well moistened. Once wet, the dirt becomes thick and clay like and can end up drying into hard clumps.  I found a quick and easy push up bra (solution) in the picture above.  This Kellogg garden soil comes in a huge bag that will cover 3 cubic feet.  In English -  it will cover about the length and width of your average picnic table if you make it about as deep as your middle finger.  See there are other good  (I mean better) uses for that finger.  If you want to make the soil deeper obviously you will need a smaller picnic table.  Spread the contents of the bag out on dirt that you have moistened pretty well.  I said moist not muddy, if you can plaster a house with it you got it too wet. Then use a large pitch fork or hoe to mix it in with the dirt. What it will do is add nutrients to your dirt, making it soil that will not only be healthier but will keep the moisture content more consistent.  Actually that is the gauge that I use to judge how deep/thick to make the amendment, is by how well the new soil hangs onto the water. If it still has that silty, baby powder texture that turns into clay I will add more.  The Kellogg garden soil can be found at Home Depot. I haven't check the prices recently but at one time it was the cheaper choice when figuring in cost per foot.
Having soil that retains moisture well is important. Whether you amend your soil with something like the Kellogg mix or you just top the area with a mulch after planting, you want to hang onto as much water as possible.  In fact when I amended my soil I was more concerned about keeping the water in than I was  about nutrients.  Water in So Cal is expense. We are in a perpetual drought. If you don't do something to maximize your water use it is going to cost you a fortune.
I just got my non-hybrid seeds today so I will be planting soon.  If you are going to amend your soil then do that this week so we can all plant together next week.