As a seasoned gardener, I often get asked questions like, “My _______ is turning yellow, and just won’t grow. Any idea what’s wrong?” To which my basic answer is, “Did you check to make sure it was plugged in?”
We humans like big, fancy solutions, even though the answer is often small, simple and right in front of us. “Plugging in” the garden means checking to make sure that your plants’ basic needs are met.
- Are you keeping the soil consistently moist?
- Is the garden located where it can get at least 6 hours of sun a day?
- Did you add compost and organic fertilizer?
This mental checklist may help you find the culprit. Note that soil moisture is listed first for a reason. Water is as essential for plants as it is for us. But it’s also the most likely thing to get “unplugged” without you noticing.
Here’s a very useful exercise: Water your garden as usual, then dig down 6 inches to check the soil profile. This simple exercise is incredibly enlightening, and you may well find that you are only wetting the top inch, while underneath the soil gets drier and drier. I still do this regularly, and am still regularly shocked at how little effect my watering has had.
These three simple questions won’t solve every problem, certainly. But they make an excellent starting place.
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