Garden Design | Lasagna Gardening.

By James Ellison

Do you have clay or layer of hard subsoil problems in yourgarden? Then gypsum may be the answer to help loosen the soilstructure. It is not considered a miracle substance and you willfind that it doesn't work right away, but a 3 year program ofapplications should help improve the poor soil conditions. It isnot expensive and is easy to spread where needed.

Gypsum also has a job of repairing the soil that has beendamaged through compaction from heavy stock, machinery, in therecovery of sub-soils exposed by earth movement and in soilsaffected by salinity.

A gardener faces one of the biggest problems in a new orestablished garden if they have a clay or layer of hard subsoiltype of soil. This type of soil creates poor drainage, soggysoil and soil compaction.

When you have a new garden you can work organic humus, whichshould be done anyway, to loosen the poor soil. Manure, compost,peat moss and soil mulches and conditioners are normally usedfor this purpose.

You might ask, what do you do in an established garden? A lot ofwork and time to recondition soil would be required. Gypsum maybe just the answer for reconditioning the soil, because it canbe spread on the surface of the soil like in the vegetablegarden, flowerbeds or on the lawn. What this means is it doesnot have to be worked into the soil, it can just simply bespread on the surface.

What does Gypsum do? It's main purpose is to penetrate the manyclay particles in heavy or the layer of hard subsoil type soilsand loosen the soil structure. Then this creates air andmoisture slots that will loosen and break-up the soil structure.

Be aware that gypsum does not contain any major plant nutrients,so continue a regular fertilizing program even though itcontains calcium and sulfur which is needed for plant growth. Inaddition, continue to put out organic humus as you plant.

Gypsum is easy to apply! Just spread it on the lawn, using thegranular type, with a lawn spreader at the rate of 40 pounds perthousand square feet. Gypsum fertilizer can be spread any timeof the year and only one application per year is needed. To getit started working, water immediately after applying. If appliedproperly it does not affect the pH of the soil, not harmful tohumans and your animals and will not burn. And because Gypsum isneutral and will not change the soil pH, you can use it inplaces where plants like Azaleas, Camellias, Rhododendrons andother acid loving plants grow, they need a little calcium too.Of course, gypsum should be applied per directions.

What is gypsum? Hydrous calcium sulfate Calcium Sulfate - CaSO4Another Name: Gypsite

Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com