Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

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Raised Bed Soil Enrichment

Organic matter will greatly increase the water-holding ability of any soil. (Image by Jessie Keith)

“What can I incorporate in my soil on an elevated bed to help retain moisture? It’s very hard to keep soil moist.” Question by David of Brookville, Ohio

Answer: Organic matter, organic matter, organic matter! Amendments rich in organic matter have high water holding ability and keep soil porous to create the best possible environment for root development. Amendments with excellent water-holding capacity include compost, peat moss, coconut coir, and earthworm castings. (Check out Black Gold’s suite of OMRI Listed soil amendments for organic gardening.) Add products such as these to your raised beds in the beginning of the season at a 2:1 ratio of amendment to soil. Then mulch with a thick layer of compost or straw to keep weeds down and further hold water. If you do this, your beds will hold water really well!

Happy Gardening! Jessie

About JESSIE KEITH

Plants are the lens Jessie views the world through because they’re all-sustaining. (“They feed, clothe, house and heal us. They produce the air we breathe and even make us smell pretty.”) She’s a garden writer and photographer with degrees in both horticulture and plant biology from Purdue and Michigan State Universities. Her degrees were bolstered by internships at Longwood Gardens and the American Horticultural Society. She has since worked for many horticultural institutions and companies and now manages communications for Sun Gro Horticulture, the parent company of Black Gold. Her joy is sharing all things green and lovely with her two daughters.

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