February 2026

PICKAWAY TO GARDEN

The Dirt on Soil

By Paul Hang

What’s the difference, if any, between dirt and soil? Both are the “skin of the earth.” It’s the stuff under our feet when we are out in nature, minus the vegetation. We use the terms interchangeably and sometimes differently. When we came in from outdoors with dirt/soil on our feet, our Moms said “Take off those dirty shoes.” Soil is sometimes used to designate a country or area of origin. “She’s from good Midwestern soil.” If you had an accident soil can be a verb. So what’s the difference between soil and dirt?

The EVS. Institute defines soil as, “Soil is a naturally occurring mixture of weathered rock, organic matter, water, and air that forms the foundation for terrestrial life. This dynamic medium supports plant growth, filters water, stores carbon, and houses countless organisms that make ecosystems function. Understanding what soil truly is reveals why protecting this precious resource is essential for sustainable food production, clean water, and healthy environments.”

The article defines soil and gives an eight page overview. In this brief consideration I am only able to overview the overview and overlook a lot. Soil is not just the dirt beneath our feet. What distinguishes soil from dirt is life. Dirt is the mineral particles with some, if any, organic matter, is compacted with little air and sometimes little water. When I went through master gardener training the most surprising thing I learned about soil was that half of it consisted of 25%water and 25% air. The other half consists of 5% organic matter and 45% mineral particles.

Mineral particles make up the parent material. The particles are sorted by their grain size. Starting with the smallest is clay, then silt, then sand. Particle size determines how much air and water can be held. Another type of soil is loam. The types of soil are determined by the amount water, air and organic material they contain. Some soils are better than others depending on what you want to grow in them.

Good soil is porous and biologically active. It’s alive! It contains microbes, fungi, bacteria, worms, and insects, alive and dead. The way to build good soil is to add organic material like compost. You can dig it in and/or use it as mulch that breaks down and is incorporated into the underlying soil. Another way is to dig a hole for your plants bigger than required and add extra organic material to the planting hole. The best way to find out about your soil is, don’t guess, test. You can receive information on soil testing at the OSU Extension Office at 740-474-7534.

This was just a little dirt on soil. There is a lot more to learn.

Things to do in the garden:

Check perennials and bulbs for heaving out of the ground. Press them down gently with your foot. Make a list of plants you want. Inventory seeds you have saved to make sure they aren’t past viability. Send in your seed orders. When you make out your seed and plant orders consider planting more native and heirloom plants. Native plants are plants that evolved here and are adapted to our conditions, diseases and native pests. While you’re at it try googling the name of a flower you’re thinking about ordering.  You will be able to see pictures and planting information.

This is the time to prune trees and shrubs (after you sharpen your tools). You can see their structure now that they are dormant and the leaves are down. Cut out crossing and rubbing branches and unwanted suckers.  Pruning can be done to reduce the size of a tree or shrub to bring it in to balance or to remove overhanging branches blocking a view or path. Insects are less likely to be attracted to cuts while trees are dormant. Remember, spring flowering shrubs should be pruned after flowering if you want to enjoy the blooms. Summer flowering shrubs can be pruned now. Cut back butterfly bush (Buddleia) severely.

On smaller trees you may want to take care of problems yourself. On larger trees you should call in an expert to inspect and perhaps correct any problems. Arborists are in a slow time of year. The ground, if frozen, will not be damaged and compacted as much from equipment and crews. The Arbor Day Foundation recommends that you have Certified Arborists check any safety problems you may have noticed. To find them go to www.isa-arbor.com click on “Verify Certification” and then “Find an Arborist.” They will not recommend topping your trees. The City of Circleville has a Comprehensive Tree Plan. You can find it at ci.circleville.oh.us, in the search box type Tree Plan. There you will find lots of information on caring for trees.

If you dug up bulbs for storage check on them. Spritz them with water to prevent drying out. Throw away any rotting or shriveled ones. Water any dormant or overwintering plants in your garage or basement. Water houseplants with lukewarm water, don’t overwater and turn them a quarter turn once a week, no fertilizer yet.

Seeds of onions, cabbage, cauliflower, and other members of the Cole family can be started indoors this month for setting out in late March or early April, depending on the weather: The University of Minnesota has a good discussion; go to www.extension.umn.edu/garden /flowers/starting-seeds-indoors. Also Google Winter Sowing. There you will read how to recycle plastic milk bottles to easily germinate some seeds. It is a good way to raise a lot of seedlings for planting “drifts,” those bands of like plants that wander serpentinely through flower beds. Now is a good time to start building raised vegetable garden

January 2026

Pickaway to Garden

Why Do We Garden?

By Paul Hang

Why do we garden? There are lots of reasons. We garden for ourselves, for others; either to give our neighbors pleasure or to “keep up with the Joneses.” We garden for our health, for exercise, for healthy food, peace of mind. Perhaps we garden in memory of those who influenced or taught us to garden, a gardening mentor. There are also other reasons why we garden.

No matter the reason, January is the perfect time to plan a garden, whether it’s a new one or an old one we want to change. Lately, in the garden literature, there is emphasis on more ethical reasons for gardening. More and more seed catalogs are offering seed and plant mixes to garden for pollinators, for birds, for butterflies, for native plants, for the ecology. Doug Tallamy, the author of “Bringing Nature Home” and other books on ecology, talks about gardens as “gas stations” for birds and butterflies on migration “road trips.” His latest effort is to encourage us to plant native plants to create a Homegrown National Park of home gardens that would collectively put more land in native plants than all of our National Parks combined. Check out: www.homegrownationalpark.org/keystone-plants.

Native plants have developed symbiotic relationships with native wildlife. There are relationships which are so specific that an animal can only rely on a specific plant to survive, e.g. the Monarch butterfly and milkweed. To go one step further, there are certain “Keystone Plants” that are native species that are disproportionately important to local ecosystems. These are plants that are more impactful than others.  Native plants have strong relationships with wildlife formed over thousands of years that provide sources of food, cover and places to raise young. Without these native plants wildlife cannot survive. The National Wildlife Federation on their website (www.nwf.org/keystone plants) has a Keystone Plants by Region where you can find what native plants are best for our region. We are in the Eastern Temperate Forests ecological region.

Another informative discussion of Keystone plants is in the current January 5 newsletter, A Way to Garden, “New Rules for the New Year.” by Margaret Roach. In addition to her excellent newsletter, she writes a gardening column for The New York Times. The conversation in the newsletter is with Uli Lorimer, the Director of Horticulture at the Native Plant Trust. “96% of our terrestrial birds rely on insects supported by keystone plants.” Every caterpillar is a future butterfly or moth.

A number of Keystone Native Plants for our region are familiar. Just a few are: White Oak, Sugar Maple, River Birch, Northern highbush blueberry, Sunflower, Black eyed susan, aster and goldenrod, and many, many more. When you think about it, planting with more native plants to better our ecosystem is really gardening for us, our neighbors and our planet Earth. What more reasons could we need?

Things to do in the garden:

The list of things to do in the garden has gotten shorter. Things we can do about gardening are: Review last year's garden; draw a map while you can still remember what grew where. Plan your gardens and plantings. One of my favorite guides for this is The Ohio Gardening Guide by Jerry Minnich.

Check your supply of old seeds. Are they expired? Do you want to reorder that variety? Read your new seed catalogs. Want more seed catalogs? Go to gardeningplaces.com. Order seeds and plants of new varieties that you want now. They usually sell out quickly. Wood ashes from the fireplace can be spread in the garden but don’t overdo it. Have your soil tested to make sure your soil pH needs to be raised before adding them.

By the end of the month, you can begin to grow members of the Allium family (Onions, Leeks, Garlic and Shallots) from seed indoors. Get your seed starting supplies together. Provide plenty of light to new seedlings.

Cut back on watering your houseplants and don’t fertilize until March or April when growth begins as the amount of light lengthens, rinse/dust leaves, turn the pots every few days. Repot if needed. Water your poinsettias when the top of the soil gets dry. When they are looking ragged throw them on the compost heap. The same goes for paper whites. In my opinion, it is not worth trying to get them to bloom again. If you like a challenge, go ahead but be prepared for disappointment. Amaryllis and Christmas cactus are exceptions and can be kept for re-blooming. Check the internet for instructions. Check stored bulbs, roots and produce. Remove and throw out damaged materials. Don’t use salt on sidewalks and drives near plants.

Establish a new bed by placing black plastic or several layers of newspaper, cardboard or even old carpet down over the area you’ve chosen for the new bed. Weight it down so the wind doesn’t disturb it. By late spring the vegetation under it should be dead and the space ready for planting.

Learn to sharpen your tools, trowels, pruners, spades and if you are adventurous, your mower blades. Oil them and use linseed oil on the wooden handles. Getting rid of a cut live Christmas tree? Don’t. Use it to serve as a wind break for evergreens. Cut the branches off and use them as mulch for perennials. Put it near your bird feeders as cover. Decorate it with suet, fruit, seed cakes, as a bird feeder. Chip it for mulch. If you have a pond, sink it for structure cover for fish. The needles can also be mulch and will not make the soil too acidic. If you had a balled live Christmas tree, plant it ASAP.

Some gardening resolutions: Rotate vegetable crops; water the base of plants, not from above; weed and mulch; use row covers; water newly planted trees and shrubs and check for injury, protect with collars; visit and scout your garden often. Happy New Year.