All of a sudden my dirt in my garden seems to be moving!
by
Cg
+2
My garden was started 15 years ago. The last few years the dirt is gone or moving someplace. I cannot see were its going. Its not a vegetable garden its just plants. Why all of a sudden is the dirt doing this? What can I do to stop it from doing this? Thank you ahead of time.
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Is someone stealing it? Or is it just becoming compacted? Could it be sinking? Is it possible to post a photo? Seems odd to me too, but there must be a logical explanation.
Do you add manure each year and when you first mixed it did you add sand also? What kind of soil do you have heavy and compact or light you can turn over with your hand? If it is heavy and clay like it may have compacted on you so you need to lighten it. What is planted there, prennials? You know you can lift prennials if you need to and add to your ground. At one point we took out a bridal wreath hedge and redid the soil turned the plants around and replanted. Yes it took some time to (3 months) have it fill out on that side but it grew like something else. We had a model house and guess they just dug and shoved these into the grown will not say what we found when we dug, normal construction site.
I live in FL and in certain parts we have a lot of limestone. I had to replace soil every year and replace my mulch several times a year. It's hot, the limestone erodes the soil, taking most of it's nutrients. It's just a normal process. Not sure why after 15 yrs it's happening, are you getting hotter seasons than you did in the last 15 yrs? That could be the reason. Good luck ;)
The same thing was happening in my plant bed. Turns out it was a family of snakes. Frightened me to death as I sat and watched about a 4ft black snake emerge and crawl up and on my deck. In the fall I turned over the entire garden. Now they are doing the same thing in another part of the yard.
it could be washing away, particlarly if you are keeping the soil loose replanting each year (putting in annuals, etc) and not using a mulch or ground cover. Try adding a light coat of compost followed by mulch in the spring, and then see if that helps. That will also help if compaction is responsible by amending the soil a bit.