Gardening with Allen: Improve soil before you plant

You can provide a lot of organic matter from your own landscape by using grass clippings, leaves, trimmings and a lot of your own household waste. Some of these materials can be applied directly or they can be saved in a compost area for later application.

As a young new homeowner with limited income, I went through the neighborhood volunteering to rake up leaves if they would let me have them. I composted them and had all the organic matter I needed for my landscape. Later I learned that I could pick up the leaves with my rotary lawn mower. It not only picked up most of the leaves but also chopped them so that they composted more quickly.

When transplanting new plants it is important to add organic matter to an area three times the size of the root ball. If only the area immediately around the plant roots is amended, the roots won’t reach beyond there. That limits the top growth and therefore is worse than if no organic matter was added.

In our area, the cheapest form of organic matter to purchase is bark dust. It is also clean and free of weeds. Although available in bags, it is much cheaper in bulk, which can be picked up or delivered.

Manure is another form of organic matter that provides fertilizer as well. It should be used in smaller amounts to avoid over-fertilization. Some sources of fresh manure can contain large quantities of weed seeds, so I recommend bagged products that have been sterilized.

Another free source of organic matter is chipped branches from tree pruning. Arborists are always looking for a place to dump them. Although not as uniform and attractive as bark dust, they make excellent mulch around trees and shrubs and can also be incorporated into the soil. I sometimes apply a layer of bark dust over the top for a more uniform look.