15 degrees?? Whats going on inside our gardens.

ABOVE--A shot of the garden at Linden with some cardboard poking up from below the surface. Cardboard is used instead of straw here to test the benefits of sheet mulching in raised beds.
Phew..it hurts a bit to walk outside because of the cold. I can't believe I ever managed western NY winters for college...we had -17 degrees with wind chill. I hope you all have warm places to be today. I just turned my heat on this week!
With all this cold weather, you must be thinking...what the heck happens to the ground when the cold weather gets here. Without solid snow protecting the soil from the elements of winter, we have to pay particular attention to how we maintain our soils. Soils are a stratified living system of organic and inorganic materials that interact with each other. Soil is living and breathing everyday. It is important to let our soil do its thing and not over till it. OVER TILL IS OVER KILL. This disrupts natural cycles for the organisms and bugs and could create a not so healthy living environment.
For our gardens...we have used a technique called sheet mulching to winterize it. Check out sheet mulching here http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lane/sites/default/files/documents/Lasagna.pdf. Basically we are using straw and compost as soil activators and protectors. The straw protects from constant rain and leaching of soil nutrients. It also keeps the soil warm like a blanket and breaks down into a fine material great for early seed sprouting. The compost we use is all organic and from the willamette valley. Among manures, fruit and veggie compost, and forest products it contains good bugs, bacteria, and fungi that create good soil health. We have created a great living environment where the animals and plants can relax and vacation until the heat of spring gets em back to work. Spring planting is only 8 weeks away!!


Here is an article from Oregon State University about it.

What happens when soils are long-soaked?

Rain, rain and more rain. Will prolonged, saturated soils hurt your landscape plants?

"Well, yes, no, maybe," said Oregon State University soil scientist Herb Huddleston. "It depends on how long the soil in the root zone stays saturated, how deeply rooted the plants are, how sensitive they are to temporary saturation."

In general, if the upper foot of soil is saturated for no more than a few days at a time, there will be little or no damage to most plants, explained Huddleston, who studies wetland soils in OSU's Department of Crop and Soil Science.

When soil is as saturated as it is on the west side of the Cascades in the winter, Huddleston said there can be two major effects to your garden.

"In the short run, water-filled soil pores shut off the oxygen supply to plant roots and the microflora and fauna that live in the soil," said Huddleston. "In technical terms, we say the soil becomes 'anaerobic.' This doesn't happen immediately. After a few days, however, we can assume that most of the oxygen is gone, and as long as the soil stays saturated, it is replaced very, very slowly by diffusion from the air above the soil. Then plants that need lots of oxygen for root respiration are going to feel the stress, and eventually will die and begin to rot in the soil."

The second major effect of saturated conditions in soil is both chemical and biological.

"When the soil becomes anaerobic, those microorganisms that need oxygen to live begin to die off, and the anaerobic microflora take over," he said. "Anaerobic processes of decomposition are less efficient, however, so organic carbon levels tend to accumulate in soils that are often wet for long periods of time. That's why wet soils often have blacker colors to greater depths than in better drained soils."

What can a home gardener do to minimize the adverse effects of chronically saturated soils?

- Keep your garden soil well supplied with organic matter, which maximizes both the total porosity and the ability of water to flow through the soil, said Huddleston. Organic material promotes the development and maintenance of good soil structure, which helps the soil to drain readily under natural conditions after the rain stops. -Provide some sort of surface drainage with shallow ditches if your garden area has a natural slope. "But if your soil is on a broad, level terrace and contains naturally restrictive clay layers, or is in a slightly concave, depressional area, about all you can do is wait for it to quit raining and the sun to come out," said Huddleston. - Plant landscape plants that tolerate wet conditions in the wetter places on your property. Don't plant things that need really good drainage in spots that tend to have standing water in the winter. "Douglas fir is particularly sensitive to wet soil conditions, whereas Ponderosa pine is much more tolerant. Some plants actually thrive in wet soil conditions, and they often have special mechanisms to provide oxygen to their roots during the time the soil is saturated. Oregon ash is such a plant, as are the multitude of sedges and rushes that occupy true wetlands." - Plant wet-intolerant species in berms, raised beds or planters. For instance, fruit trees don't like "wet feet." If you must plant them in a wet area, plant them in a bed of soil piled above the winter-saturated zone. Build the beds higher than you think they need to be; they will settle. - Use structures and ground covers to prevent erosion from rainfall. Railroad ties, stone walls, and ground covers such as green manures or ivy all help slow runoff and topsoil loss.

By: Carol Savonen
Source: Herb Huddleston