5. Add compost to your soil every year
Almquist notes that many people confuse compost with fertilizer, but it’s really a soil enhancer that makes the soil easier to work. It’s also a good source for the bacteria in the soil, he says. “Basically your garden soil is three components: sand, silt (all the organic material) and clay. The organic matter is what you want to have at least up in the 50 percent range.”
6. Use a 10-10-10 fertilizer
“It’s probably heresy,” says Almquist, “but once a year, in the beginning of the spring you want to use a 10-10-10 commercial grade fertilizer to get your garden started. It gets the chemicals down around the root system rapidly where the plant can digest them. The organic fertilizers that people like to use, including me, need to have the soil bacteria active in order for that material to be absorbed into the plants.”
7. Swap plants to obtain the basics
Marge Bonner of Kerhonksen has been a Master Gardener for about 13 years. She recommends that people go to plant swaps or trade plants with friends to build up a garden with the basics. “If you go to a store and buy everything,” she says, “it starts getting very expensive. Save your buying for the special plants that are more unusual.” Plant swaps will usually have a lot of good everyday plants available, says Bonner, and gardeners can learn to divide the plants they already have to extend their garden, too. The Master Gardeners hold a plant swap every year on the first Saturday in June (this year’s event will be on Saturday, June 1 at CCE’s office at 232 Plaza Rd. in Kingston).
