Plant root update,

[Worth1]

Some of you guys may remember back in the spring how I dug holes in the very hard yard where cars were parked before I moved in.

In these holes I planted tomatoes.

Yesterday I pulled up the plants and they had nice healthy feeder roots about the size of a pencil growing along the surface just under the compost I had placed on the top of the ground.

Some of these roots must have been fairly long, as 3 feet away they were still large.

As for the depth of the holes, no taproots or any roots were found below about 6 inches.

This tells me that I need to dig down only about a foot this winter and make the area of the trench about three or four feet wide and not the two feet that I had originally wanted to do.

In the back patch the soil was only about 6 inches down and then heavy clay.

The same was true for this area, nice healthy roots.

Most of these plants were around 10 feet tall 3 feet wide or more and very healthy.
They had grown to the top of 5 foot stakes and then back down the stake and then sprawled along the ground.
Some even came back up the other plants.
A real jungle.

The difference between the front and back patch was the back had morning sun the front evening sun.
The other was the back patch had good soil all over the surface of the ground but not down deep as was the opposite of the front patch.

For those of you that are interested it tells me that if you have a very bad soil you can just put down about a foot or 10 inches of good soil at the most and have good results.
I’m just adding 6 inches this winter my self.

At least it worked for me.

Worth

[korney19]

You researching your roots Worth?

Actually, that's what I did in my "pumpkin patch" area---I dumped about a foot of municipal compost over what used to be mostly lawn. Likewise for the sweetcorn--about a foot of compost directly on the blacktop driveway.

You can see it works by putting down a plank to walk on... midseason, look under the plank & you'll see tons of roots at the surface.

[NCTIM]

...I dug holes in the very hard yard...

Worth, are you sure your not getting a little lazy?

Just kidding. That's good to know. My yard has a very hard layer of clay about 16 inches under the top soil. I've always ammended like crazy in a new area. Your experiment shows that it's really not needed.

Tim

[Ruth_10]

Worth, I've seen that as well, at least when there is a heavy mulch. The roots go out radially for at least 3 feet and are the size of my thumb. I guess the thing I would worry about with a fairly shallow amended area is drainage if under the amended area is clay or hardpan.

[NCTIM]

I guess the thing I would worry about with a fairly shallow amended area is drainage if under the amended area is clay or hardpan.

Hey Ruth,

That's basically what I have in all my garden spots. I have one area that's 10x16 and it's just as you mention. So far I haven't had any bad results. It is an issue in the spring at tillin' time. It takes a while to dry out after a heavy rain.

When I plant, I always pull the dirt up in hills. This helps a lot.

Tim

[Worth1]

My soil is not the impermeable clay that you speak of; it is more of a red clay loam with a round river rock mix.
I have no drainage problems to speak of. It will drain off in about an hour or so.
From some of the plant life that grows in it, it seems to be fairly fertile

Worth