Digging In: Soil

By Jennifer Smith

I’m sure I’m not the only gardener who delights at the sight of loosely amended soil. I see the promise of new flowering plants to attract butterflies, seedheads to attract birds in the fall and grasses to carry my garden through winter. 

An expanse of loose soil is a gardener’s blank slate, an opportunity to create something new.  You notice I described soil twice as loose. That’s intentional. All soil is not alike. Shredded clay is not the same as soil tilled with a copious amount of amendments. Soil can make or break a garden, and perhaps more importantly, a gardener. Faced with hard clay that grips weeds like a vice, a new gardener struggles and curses a bit and then gives gardening a hard pass. 

A garden with an abundance of our lovely clay, she types sarcastically, is not the joy to work with as garden magazines and television shows portray. Take a closer look at those programs. See how the gardener’s hands easily shift the soil to deposit fall bulbs, lift carrots with ease and add new perennials to the butterfly garden with the assistance of nothing more than a hand tool? It’s the soil my friends. They’re smiling because their soil, the foundation of their garden, is a joy to work with and so too, should your soil.

Full disclosure: There are plants that grow, even thrive, in clay-rich soil, not a lot, but there are some. When all is taken into consideration, clay soil, what many of us are working with in the Cincinnati area, is difficult to plant, weed, and water.  Our natural soil throws many obstacles to new gardeners, too many I believe. Because a garden’s soil can make a new gardener experience success or failure in one season, I believe it’s crucial to create a garden with soil that’s forgiving, easy to work with, and allows for a wider plant palette. 

I strive to see gardeners succeed and delight in their accomplishments.  I want new gardeners to take what’s a marvelous array of plants and feel as if there’s no limit to what their garden can grow. And I want new gardeners to enjoy the truly relaxing, some may go so far to say meditative quality of weeding. Yes, weeding can be fun if your soil is loose and the weeds lift with ease. Weeding, a necessity in most new gardens, is also a blessing.

A few weeds in the garden ensure we, no matter how busy the day, spend some time in the garden. We experience the garden while weeding.  We see where plants are thriving, growing, perhaps spreading a bit too much and where others are languishing. We take note of how our plants are faring and inspect the soil: Is it too wet or too dry? To garden well, we must spend time in the garden. No amount of books, classes or talks can make you an excellent gardener. They are most valuable, but a successful gardener takes what she learns and puts it into practice. So, a few weeds, to ensure you spend time in the garden, is not a bad thing, and since your soil is loose, those weeds will lift with ease. 

Jennifer Smith is an award-winning pollinator garden designer with Wimberg Landscaping.