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soil

How to mitigate a dead spot/zone in garden?

Timothy Norton

Steward of piddlers

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Location: Upstate New York, Zone 5b, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

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posted 1 month ago

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A not-so-great discovery this year is that in one of my growing areas there appears to be a four foot by four foot area that struggles to grow anything. A few bean plants got several inches of growth before crisping up and dying. No corn germinated in this area and suspiciously it only had a few weeds pop up. I've had wonderful growth outside of this rough square so it seems localized to the one spot.

There are no nearby trees/bushes that are apparent, no underground utilities, just questionable soil.

What steps would you take to start investigating the soil in hopes of repairing it for the next year?

I'm thinking the easiest first steps may be to do a jar test to inspect the soil makeup, a PH test to see if that is out of whack, and perhaps try to establish a cover crop prior to winter to make sure the beans were not a fluke.

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Nancy Reading

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Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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Are you sure there is no underground structure there? I would dig a couple or test pits or probe to confirm you haven't a hard pan just under the surface.

That being said the fact you're getting poor germination even of weeds make me wonder about possible gick residue. It may be worth top dressing with a good live compost and seeing if anything grows next year. Alternatively a thick layer of woodchip could support fungi for bioremediation.

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Anne Miller

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Location: USDA Zone 8a

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I have an area on my property yhat I bought in 2013 that doesn't grow anything.

It was the spot where the previous owner burned building materials while building the house.

I assume lots of gypsum and cedar.

I have just ignored this area though if I wanted to build soil health I would start by adding lots of organic matter.

A compost pile build on the area might be a good start.

Wood chips, fall leaves, grass clippings, veggie scraps would be a good start.

Then start growing mushrooms.

Some helpful threads:

https://permies.com/t/219569/composting/Composting-Ratios

https://permies.com/t/160/120453/Great-Wood-Chips

https://permies.com/t/176222/Experiences-Growing-Mushrooms

Best wishes for your success!

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Joao Winckler

pollinator

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Location: UK

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Yeah when it's that localized it's usually something specific to that patch. The burning materials history Anne mentioned is a good shout. Woodchips over a couple seasons worked surprisingly well for a similar dead corner at my place.

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Tereza Okava

steward & manure connoisseur

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posted 5 days ago

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I'd also build my compost pile there or put my compost/bokashi barrel, use it as a spot to let woodchips/manure/etc age, something that will give it some time.

That said, my dog killed a cat that was in our yard (? why? how? who knows) and I buried it in my garden. I've planted three passionfruit vines on top of it and all three have died. I'm assuming that is some sort of vengeance from beyond the grave and I'm leaving that spot fallow for a while.

Timothy Norton

Steward of piddlers

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Location: Upstate New York, Zone 5b, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

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I've managed to establish some oats as a cover crop on this spot. They are still rather small but there is some hope there may be some remediation that can be done.

Pearl Sutton

steward & bricolagier

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Personally, I'd decide it's a lovely spot for a water feature to support my pollinators, and maybe have a bench so I could take garden breaks there.

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Doug McEvers

pollinator

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Location: West central Minnesota

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We have an area in a farm field that grows nothing. It is the low spot for the surrounding tillable acres. I was told by a farmer in ND who I sold native grass seed to that my sterile area is an evaporation field. The low point where all of the synthetic salt fertilizer used over the years came to rest. We are in our third year of biological farming and this sterile area is getting much smaller. I thought if conventional farming caused the problem , biological farming could heal it. Right next to this area is our restored prairie and that thrives. The soil life should move in from all directions as our soils improve. I seeded oats there recently to try and get a living root going. Could also work in some mulch as the soil is black as night and shows no organic matter. Have a young cattle producer I will be working with next season grazing some of our grassland. Some bale grazing on this area might speed the process of revitalization.

Christopher Weeks

master gardener

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Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods

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Dig a pit, looking to see if visual inspection gives any clues. Fill it with cultured woodchips. Check in three years later.

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Cheri Sutherland

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While this might not apply to your dead spot, I have suspected that a prior owner may have spread rock salt there (to rather permanently discourage weeds) kill weeds, and in another property the area was a raccoon pitty site at one time.

Wishing you success to heal your dead spot!
😊

Hans Quistorff

gardener

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posted 4 days ago

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The summary seems to be a spot is dead because the life was killed or there was no food. To make it live add food and life. If what is there will kill life then put food and life on top to establish a living soil which will find a way to get rid of what kills it.

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John Weiland

master pollinator

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Location: RRV of da Nort, USA

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Adding to the above ideas, you could send a few samples from the unthrifty patch to a testing lab for nutrient analysis. Since you have immediately adjacent soil that is productive, you could send a few samples of that for comparison. Probably the best place to start for you would be https://soilhealthlab.cals.cornell.edu/testing-services/ .... they likely will have a contact Email address for you to inquire about costs and sample technique for best results. It would be interesting if not too costly to take similar samples 3-4 years from now after you add various amendments as mentioned above to see if something specific changed in the nutrient profile that could account for any remediation. Unfortunately, I suspect it is still too costly to do a microbiome analysis as well, which could give a rough quantitative snapshot of microbial species and abundance in those samples....but you could inquire! Good luck!....

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