GARDENING NOTES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 4639, 13 May 1938, Page 3

GARDENING NOTES

SOILS AND MANURES. MAINTAINING PLANT FOOD. A BRIEF SURVEY. "How can I keep the beds in my small garden fertile when they are constantly in use—as fast as one bed of annuals is vacated, it is filled up again with seasonable plants?" This query comes from a lady gardener whose problem is a universal one. It may help many amateurs who are, befogged by the array of manures and fertilisers on the market; the casual references to humus, and the value of lime, if an explanation of soil qualities and plant foods is given in a brief survey, states the Sydney Morning Herald.

The soil is an almost sentient living medium, teeming with bacteria

and ever mndergoing chemical changes, and is a lifetime study in itaelf. Whether we are scientifically minded or not, it is necessary to understand at least the essentials of soil treatment in our search for beauty and col* our and rest. Most of us know that the soil came originally from the rocks of the earth's surface, broken down into small fragments by the action of frost and heat, wind and water. According

to the class of rocks which gave it being, the different typeß of soil arise—coarse particles giving us sand, and the finer grains from shales and slates causing the clay.

Primary rocks contained no vegetative growth, but as soil formed and the algae (water weeds), fungi and bacteria came into being, and in rotfc ing down caused humus —that essential for plant life—leafy growth began to flourish. Through ferns, cyads, conifers, and so to flowering plants it ranged to the present day highly specialised daisy family and orchids. The primary needs of plant life were there—moisture, nitrogen (in the humus), and the base of rock particles which contained varying percentages of the life-giving chemicals —potash, phosphoric acid, lime, magnesium, iron and numerous smaller items.

Those needs are the same to-day, and the whole system of plant feeding is based on maintaining the balance as far as we can understand it. To do that it is necessary to know the classes of soil, so that we can recognise them on sight, and what they theoretically contain. v