Chocolate Cake & Coffee

Prepping the soil for the winter garden

See the soil in the Clever Shovel garden as we prep for planting of winter greens in zone 8B, Texas.

Good soil should look like chocolate cake. Deep in color, have structure but not be too dense, and evenly moist. You can feel good soil with your hands. Take off the gloves!

To prep the garden for winter planting, I added the following about 30 days before I plant:

• Spent coffee grounds: Yep – don’t throw away your used coffee grounds! Put them in the garden. They add nitrogen and improve the texture of your soil.

• Dolomitic lime: Just a little. Not intending to adjust the ph, but to add calcium as a prep for the spring garden.

• Fertilizer: Greens aren’t as heavy of feeders or as persnickety as fruit bearing vegetables, so I added some fertilizer that I had originally purchased for the spring tomatoes, but was now a couple years old.

• Epsom salt – plain: Adds mineral content like magnesium to the soil. Make sure you are using 'plain' epsom salt - nothing with any added scents or oils.

• Compost: A good dose of compost adds organic material back to the soil. I’ve recently been pretty happy with Fox Farm’s Happy Frog Soil Conditioner.

I do my soil amending about 30 days ahead is so that it has a chance to break down in the soil before I add any plants. If it hasn’t rained, I’ll give it a watering or two between the initial amendment and planting to help it along.

Get out there and put your hands in your soil!