Interviewing one of my landscape horticulture apprentices about his year two course recently, I asked him what he disliked the most about it. Soils, he said.
What? Soils? I couldn’t believe my ears. This is landscape horticulture. Everything starts with good, healthy soil. Plants and our survival on this planet depend on it. Did his instructors fail to mention the importance of soils or did he not get it? Perhaps he was lost in the scientific details.
Yes, soils are complex but that can’t stop us from studying them and keeping them healthy. When soil conditions are right for plants, they grow well. Case closed. I say, face your fears, get some help and learn all you can about soils.
Calibrachoa
Consider one case from a project I worked on in 2014. Employed at the City of Coquitlam as an apprentice under parks gardener Tracey Mallinson, we redesigned a large, ugly and weedy public library bed.
We removed the biggest weedy offenders, I put a deep edge on the back of the bed and new topsoil was brought in. Once we prepared the bed, we planted new perennials. Many of them were my favorites like Rudbeckias, Liatris spicatas and Heucheras.
To digress, when my gardener boss and crew were away on errands, a young girl walked by the new bed. Taking in the new perennials, she told me that I “must be the world’s best gardener!” Smart girl. My boss and crew were jealous for weeks.
The one rectangle closest to the sidewalk was reserved for annuals. In 2014 Calibrachoa were on the menu. So in they went and the job was completed. I must say, it was an amazing experience for a parks employee. This entire season will go down as my best-ever working year. I learned so much working under an experienced gardener. My only hope is that I will somehow have an even better year in the future.
One glitch
One problem. The calibrachoa didn’t look their best. Considering their high-profile location closest to the sidewalk, it was frightening. But why? The plants were new and they got watered.
Then, luckily, a city parks manager stopped by and mentioned that calibrachoa didn’t like acidic soils. Why don’t we try applying some lime. So we did. Same day.
pH levels
The results came very quickly; in a matter of a day or two. As soon as the conditions were right for the annuals, they perked up and performed well. So again we see that soil conditions are critical.
I will get my apprentice to read this blog post and study soils. Soils are key!
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