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New to Gardening

Red soil in Maryland

13 years ago

Hello,

We are attempting to start a new garden at our home in Maryland (Carroll county). This will be our first real garden. Turned over the soil today in our garden location and they soil is very red. We don't have a lot of time to do a lot of work on the soil but I'm looking for assistance/recommendations of what I should be doing to improve the soil.

The area gets great sunlight and grass did very well in this location. I know I could also use a lot of miracle grow but looking for what I should be doing in this location. This is more of a test run as we are looking to expand and improve this location in the years ahead.

Thanks!

Scott

Comment (1)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
13 years ago
Since you didn't mention anything about the consistency of your soil, can we assume that you had no problem working with it? Meaning that it is not heavy clay. The red color usually means that your soil has lots of iron and lots of oxygen, making iron oxide (rust). Some of the best agricultural soils in this country are bright red! I have bright red CLAY and every single thing we stick in the ground thrives.

Try to find a source of compost to add to your soil on a regular basis. You can even top dress a lawn with compost and it will soon find its way into the soil.

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