Tips on Protecting Your Soil in Your Garden

Here are some soil-wise ideas that will help keep your garden healthy and productive:

• If your garden is on a slope, plant the vegetable rows along the contour, rather than up and down the slope. This will help slow down water runoff and decrease the rate of soil erosion.
• Plant different crops in different places in your garden each year. For example, a plot used for growing tomatoes one year is used for planting beans the following year. Rotating crops balances the uptake of valuable nutrients from the soil and keeps your plants strong and healthy.
• Spread mulch around your garden plants using compost or grass clippings to help reduce erosion, keep moisture in the soil , suppress weed growth, and add nutrients.
• A good way to create a mulch and enrich your soil is by making a compost pile. Construct a small bin beside your garden plot to hold the composting material. Fill it with alternating layers of organic material (i.e. grass clippings, dead leaves, and plant stalks and hulls) and garden soil . Keep moist and turn the compost pile regularly to aerate it. This helps speed up the natural decaying process. A good compost will create a rich fertile mulch for your garden.
• Minimize the spraying of poisonous insecticide in your garden, by letting certain types of plants and insect-eating animals control pests. Some plants, such as marigolds and onions, contain chemicals that repel pesty bugs. Toads, ladybugs, praying mantises, and other insect-eating animals can also help control pest populations in your garden.