Can You Guess Why These Plants Are Bigger ? By Marjory Wildcraft

I grew these plants out for a fun demonstration.  Take a look at the photo at this post 

There are two cucumber plants, and two tomato plants.   All were started from seed at the same time, given the same amount of sunlight, and all were watered the same.  But clearly, some of the plants did better than the others.

Mmm, mmm, good.  Isn’t summertime wonderful just because of the fresh delicious tomato and cucumber salads?

Want to take a guess as to why the ones in the darker pots are bigger, healthier, and stronger than the others?

No, it is not the color of the pot…  LOL

Well, here is the answer; in the darker colored pots I put a very rich, fertile soil.  And in the lighter colored pots I used mostly sand – like beach sand, with only a little compost.  Actually I tried this experiment first with only plain sand.  The seeds barely sprouted and quickly died, so I had to put a bit of compost in with the sand to get them to grow at all.

So what is The Big Lesson from all this?  Yes, I’ve said it before, fertility is sooo important!  And the really good news?  Not only are your plants easier to grow and care for – but you get more nutrients when you eat those cucumbers or tomatoes.

Next I did a similar experiment using bean plants.  Can you guess what happened that time?  Stay subscribed and I’ll post that update soon.  Or drop a comment at the link below and take a guess…

htp://www.growyourowngroceries.org/guess-why-plants-are-bigger/

Talk soon!

Marjory

PS:  Want to know the best way to increase your soil fertility?  Worm compost rocks!  Check out this video I did with Peter-Paul who got an iPhone for his worm compost juice.  Worm Composting video

I am going to start evaluating several worm composting systems in my home (for people living in apartments – i.e. small scale).  If you’ve got a suggestion for a composting system you like, please put it in the comments section.  The comments section is teh absolute best way to reach me personally.