Yesterday we had a sod-soaker. The rose garden was washed, drenched, and given more life.
The first effect of rain is the shower of nitrogen compounds, which spur growth and green up everything. Farmers say, "Irrigation keeps plants alive. Rain makes them grow."
The rain also washes off all the plants. One of the best ways to keep plants healthy is to wash them. That clears off bugs and dust.
I covered a lot of sod with with newsprint and mulch, so the rain fueled the decomposition of the sod into rich humus. I once made a compost pit out of sod from the front yard. That part of the backyard was so rich in humus that it was always jelly-like when I walked on it. Likewise, the prairie soil of Moline was known for being so rich that the ground shivered when people jumped out of their wagons and landed on it.
When I wanted to grow parsley, the richest place in the yard was best for it - and parsley grew abundantly, attracting swallowtail butterflies, who insist on parsley. Years ago, the owner of the Parsley Patch ran out of parsley, so she asked to harvest mine. Needless to say, I gloated about bailing out the professional herbalist with my sod-created parsley patch.
Ideal soil creatures love rain, darkness, and food from recycling. The covered sod, newsprint, and mulch all provide food - and a blanket to shade the sun, a wet blanket to keep the moisture in and the roots of the roses cool.
Sod is a great boost for the garden because the richest top soil is held together with grass roots. When that layer decomposes and shrinks, it produces that humus-rich soil, the Jello of growth and health.
Meanwhile, the rain vastly expands the soil population. Studies have shown that a high population of creatures in the soil will produce the best results. There are many creatures that contribute to soil productivity, from springtails to sowbugs to earthworms, and they all crave moisture and darkness. The earthworms that arrived from the worm farm are normally 50% their size from dehydration on the journey. Rain fattens them up and restarts their life cycle of eating, burrowing, manuring, and laying eggs. They even provide another burst of nitrogen when they die, since earthworms are all muscle and moisture.
As they always said in sales, "Front-end activity always leads to results." By building up the soil, I build up the roses. The bare-root roses and the nursery roses (in paper buckets) can only thrive if their roots grow into the soil and the delicate root hairs have a banquet to serve to the plant above. That banquet consists of usable minerals and moisture. Clay soil is loaded with minerals but they need to be unlocked to reach the plant. As I understand it, decomposition and the soil creatures accomplish this. They also open up the clay for the rapid growth of roots.
Earthworms sweeten soil with their calcium-producing glands, and that sweeter soil is better for most plants and for releasing minerals in the soil for plant use.
Several factors keep me from osterizing the soil, although my neighbor offered up his giant soil mixer. One is the possibility of hitting utilities and running up a fat liability for the repairs. Even when flags are down, that happens, as it did at our local college, when the natural gas line was cut during remodeling.
Another reason - rototilling the soil is a crime against nature, upsetting the natural process of soil renewal. As one Indian said about the effect of the plow, "Soil upside-down." In this case - soil like whipped cream, without the flavor.
Finally, I resist it because soil creatures and plants do the work. One expert argued that no one needs to stir or rototill ingredients into the soil. The earthworms will rise to the occasion, bring the organic matter down into the root-layer, and thoroughly mix it, creating tunnels for rain and channels for rainwater. Call me lazy, but I like that mulch better.
Results - I learned from a Church Growth seminar to count the results. Yesterday, after plenty of pruning and cutting for the altar flowers, I saw 50 rose blooms on the plants from the nursery. The bare-root roses have leafed out and greened up. They will soon be producing buds.
My neighbor's daughter said she loved roses but did not like weeding them. I said, "No weeding with mulch." The rose plants are set off by the black mulch. I have one lonely weed that worked its way up through the newsprint and wooden mulch. A toddler could pull that weed out.
That was my other concession to laziness. I read the Ruth Stout book on mulching and decided that mulching was really composting on the spot, eliminating back-breaking wheelbarrow trips and weeding at the same time.
But wait - I have a large compost pile, consisting of leaves from my many maple trees. I am loathe to remove organic material from the yard, so I am letting the leaves process above ground for future projects. I almost used them this year, but I measured my lack of a wheelbarrow, my lack of ambition, and my potential trek from the pile in the backyard to the rose plantation in the front yard. Bags of mulch won that round.
Nevertheless, the snow and rain have changed the pile, reducing it to 25% of the original mass of leaves. My helper, who mows and rakes, said, "I can't fit anymore in." I said, "You will soon." The chicken-wire cage was soon half-full again. The compost pile is roughly 5' by 7' by 5' - a lot of leaves. Ironically, I am feeding my neighbor's garden, which is next to it, across the fence-line. Graduates of the Wormhaven Compost Pile can easily migrate into his garden.
The rain and snow always have an effect. We have too many city-slickers in the pulpit and not enough gardeners and farmers. If they knew more about Creation, they would trust the efficacy of the Word, the inevitable growth that comes from the Word. Below are three promises about the Holy Spirit at work in the Word.
- The Word will never return void.
- The Word will always accomplish God's will.
- The Word will prosper God's intentions.
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie should have sent their leaders into the garden instead of Fuller Seminary. Wagner admitted, his stupid Church Growth Principles do not work.
.jpg)
