While other parts of the country are still covered in snow, Oregon\u2019s spring has kicked into overdrive. It\u2019s not just the magnolias that are awakening, either. Birds, bees, squirrels\u2014and eager gardeners\u2014are all brimming with energy and activity.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there is no shortage of work to be done in the garden. Here are five\u00a0tasks that, if tackled in early spring, will pay dividends all summer long.<\/p>\n

Fix drainage problems in the garden<\/em><\/strong>. It\u2019s been a mild winter here in the Pacific Northwest, to say the least. In our own garden, the ground never really froze at all. Weeks of intermittent rain showers (and pooling puddles of water) made it obvious that there were several areas in need of attention. We\u2019ll be working extra amounts of organic materials into our clay soils to improve drainage and protect our plants from root rot.<\/p>\n

Test the pH levels of your soil<\/em><\/strong>. Most hardware stores sell a basic home soil test kit for around $10 or you can get one from your local extension office. Acidity or alkalinity influences how plants absorb essential nutrients, with most vegetable crops preferring slightly acidic conditions. (To increase acidity, add sulfur. To reduce acidity, add limestone.) By improving the soil now, you\u2019ll avoid trying to make up for a plant\u2019s deficiencies later.<\/p>\n

Remineralize the soil<\/em><\/strong>. Soil improvement is an ongoing effort, but one of the best things to do after a wet winter is to use volcanic rock dust to replace the minerals and trace elements (such as magnesium, calcium, silicon and iron) that have been washed away. While there are many different types of rock dust, research shows that volcanic basalt improves root systems, increases yields and promotes plant health in a wide variety of conditions and crops.<\/p>\n

Let the soil dry out<\/em><\/strong>. This one is hard! The sun is shining, the birds are singing\u2026and the soil is still wet. By working the ground too early, you risk destroying the structure of the soil and end up with a garden that is as hard as concrete. \u00a0To determine if the soil is dry enough to work, squeeze a handful into a ball and drop it on the ground. If it crumbles, it is ready. If it stays together or flattens, it is still too wet.<\/p>\n

Commit to composting.<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0If you are not already composting your food scraps and yard debris, 2015 is a great time to get started. The United Nations has designated 2015 as The International Year of Soils and compost is one of the best ways to nourish your soil. Of course, composting does take some work. Fortunately, there are good online resources to get you started (start with \u201cComposting 101<\/a>\u201d on OrganicGardening.com). To speed things along, add a high-quality volcanic rock dust to your compost pile. The rock dust feeds the microbes that generate heat and accelerate the breakdown of materials. Bestplants.com also has a great write up on making the most out of your compost.<\/a><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

A note about rock dust:\u00a0A rock is a rock is a rock, right? Not exactly. Crushed volcanic basalt is a natural source of silica-based minerals that nourish the soil and provide plants with what they need to thrive.\u00a0Cascade Minerals Remineralizing Soil Booster<\/strong> is made of 100% volcanic basalt, and nothing more. It is OMRI Listed for use in organic production and completely safe to use around people, plants and pets when used as directed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While other parts of the country are still covered in snow, Oregon\u2019s spring has kicked into overdrive. It\u2019s not just the magnolias that are awakening, either. Birds, bees, squirrels\u2014and eager gardeners\u2014are all brimming with energy and activity. Fortunately, there is no shortage of work to be done in the garden. Here are five\u00a0tasks that, if… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soil-amendment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Fall-Garden-Tasks.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6YalT-js","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2322,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions\/2322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}