Q+A: Soil Health

I just visited the garden; not looking so good. The soil seems really heavy and clay-like still (maybe lots of rain), but what concerns me more is there are no signs of life in the soil—no worms!!! The only thing that's really taken is the chard. A few beans are coming up, the carrots didn't really take, and the tomatoes are looking like something is nibbling at the bottom leaves (the holes are in the middle of the leaf). I guess I'm concerned with two things: (1) the health of the soil, and (2) what to do with the tomato plants?

SOIL HEALTH Worms eat organic matter such as decaying leaves and vegetation. If you have heavy clay without a lot of organic matter, I would expect fewer worms, as there is less for them to eat. Clay is slower to drain and warm up, so it makes sense that heat-loving beans are moving slowly. Small seeds like carrots could have difficulty poking through a crust, if one has formed on the surface.

Suggestions:

• Where beans didn’t come up, just stick in seeds to fill the holes.
• As for carrots, if the crop is a write off, you can still reseed (but do it soon). Dig the carrot patch, working in lots of peat moss.

TOMATO PLANTS From the description, I don’t know what that is. Are the holes large? Is it only the bottom leaves? If you see no insects, but think something is eating the leaves, I wonder if we’re facing a slug or snail. See any slimy tracks?

Try a protective collar, made from a toilet-paper roll, around the base of the young plants.

Steven Biggs
Gardener, Garden Writer, Garden Coach, Horticulturist

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