Hold off on working in the garden just yet
A few days of sunshine can make a gardener lose his senses. It has rained in the past weeks, but spring is just around the corner.
It is hard to resist working the garden. Here are a few words of advice: DO NOT DO IT! Do not be in such a hurry. First, be sure it is not too wet to plow. If you turn the soil when it is too wet, you will create a lot of hard clods that will take years to get rid of. That is especially true for our heavier North Georgia clay soils.
So, even though the average last frost dates are getting closer and spring gardening fever is mounting, DO NOT start working the garden soil until you are sure it is ready. The soil will compact on you.
The implements you use to loosen up the soil will do just the opposite; creating hardglazed clods that water cannot penetrate. It is almost like making rocks. It will be very hard to break them up later.
You can tell if your garden soil is dry enough to be worked. Just dig down three or four inches with your hand and squeeze a clod of soil the size of a tennis ball. Then if you tap it with your finger and it breaks up, it is ready to work. You can drop it and if it shatters, it is time to begin turning the soil.
If the clod holds together, you had better look at those seed catalogs a little longer before starting this year’s garden.
If you have any questions regarding your plants, or planting practices please contact the extension office at 770-749-2142 or email uge2233@uga.edu.
For more information and details on upcoming events, check out the Polk County Extension office on Facebook by searching “UGA Extension Polk County.”