How to Use Soil Amendments ~ Now Available in Ridgecrest!
January 2007
High Desert Home Center
824 West Ridgecrest Blvd
Ridgecrest, CA 93555
HDHC now carries DESERT SOIL AMENDMENTS!
Desert Planters of Ridgecrest has succeeded in a long term effort to make soil amendments needed by desert gardeners available in Ridgecrest which is in the Mojave Desert. The only locally owned hardware store and home center in the Indian Wells Valley, High Desert Home Center Manager, James Mower, has agreed to support gardeners with gardening products needed here.
This is what HDHC has added to their inventory:
- Gypsum-- Loosens clay soils, minimizes salt damage to plants (alkaline soil is salty)
- Alfalfa pellets or meal—adds nitrogen to plants and organic matter to soil.
- Soil Sulfur-- creates an acid soil condition, corrects excess alkalinity, soil conditioner, slow acting but long lasting.
- Cottonseed meal—adds organic matter, contains 7% nitrogen, 3% phosphorus and 2% potash (NPK); nitrogen is slowly made available.
- Iron sulfate--for lawns, trees, flowers and vegetables. Reverses the yellow-leaf results of alkaline soil, restoring a deep, healthy green color.
- 16-grit silica sand--good for cactus, succulents and clay desert soils.
- Perlite--to increase air spaces in clay soil
- Kellogg's Patio Plus potting soil
This is how to use these amendments needed by our desert soils:
Potting Soil Mix:
- 1-1/2 cubic ft bag of Kellogg’s Patio Plus (about $5 per bag)
- 2 12-ounce coffee cans alfalfa pellets (provides nitrogen)
- 2 12-ounce coffee cans Perlite (improves air in the soil)
- 2 12-ounce coffee cans 16 grit sand for standard plants (double the amount of sand for planting cactus or succulents)
- A small handful of cottonseed meal in the potting mix at the root zone in each pot.
Use a short-handled small shovel to mix it with in a wheel barrow or large tub, adding a little water to make it easier to absorb water later. Mix should be damp when potting to enable better water absorption.
Add These to Your Garden Soil:
When enriching your garden’s native soil, work in gypsum, soil sulfur, cottonseed meal, iron sulfate and alfalfa all over the beds with plants in them, not just next to the plants or in the planting hole. Roots reach out and rich moist soil encourages that. Each of these items helps balance alkaline soil and keeps it balanced for the growing plants.