As we wrap up our gardening season for 2025, I thought it might be fun to look at some gardening myths that people often take as accurate but aren’t.
Some people don’t like compost piles because they smell bad. The truth is they smell bad when they aren’t taken care of properly. Compost piles need to be about 3 feet square and the material put in them needs to be at least half brown, dead organic material mixed with an equal part fresh, green material and the whole pile moistened to the consistency of a wet sponge. This makes enough oxygen available for beneficial bacteria to break down the material. A stinky pile usually has more green material than needed which reduces oxygen availability to the pile that allows the anaerobic bacteria to grow and create the stink.
Another myth is that it takes a lot of space for a vegetable garden. Plant breeders have been hard at work to create smaller versions of familiar vegetables that are easily grown in large pots on a deck. Vegetable plants also make good annuals when planted amongst landscape plants. What other plants can compete with brightly colored chard stems.
Adding crushed egg shells to garden soil is said to add calcium to the soil. It does if you are willing to wait many years for the calcium to weather out of the shells into the soil. If your soil needs calcium, buy ready-made supplements to supply the need.
Some people think adding gravel, pine cones or Styrofoam pellets to the bottom of pots will reduce the expense of buying more potting soil or that will reduce the weight of the container. Maybe to the latter but not to the former. When water in the soil reaches the rock layer, it pools before it can drain away. The pooled water can drown roots and reduce the health of the plants. Just fill pots completely with soil.
Staying with potting soil, you don’t have to regularly replace potting soil in containers. When you plant, break up the compacted soil in the pot and then mix fertilizer, fresh potting soil or compost into the existing soil to refresh it. After three or four years or when you transplant, replace it with new soil.
Some gardeners think that because organic fertilizers and pesticides are “organic” they are benign and can be used without limits. While organic pesticides are made from naturally sourced materials, they can be dangerous. An example is horticultural vinegar that has an acidity of 20 to 40%. At this level it can burn skin and if used too often, can change the soil’s pH. Always follow the label use instructions.
Lastly, you’ve heard this from me repeatedly. Pine needles do not acidify the soil as is claimed by many web sources. An experiment done at the WSU Spokane County Extension Office found that shredded pine needle compost in various states of decomposition had a pH of 7, the same as our natural pH soil level.
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