By NTFR Staff

By the end of summer, I’m usually ready to blame the weather for everything that went wrong in my garden. The heat was too intense. The rain came at the wrong time, or it didn’t come at all. The squash bugs were relentless, and the weeds somehow grew better than anything I planted on purpose.

All of that may be true, but this year I’ve also had to admit something else: some of my garden soil is tired.

After seasons of planting, watering, digging and walking through the beds, soil can become compacted, low in organic matter or out of balance. It may drain poorly after a heavy rain, then turn hard and cracked a few days later. Water may run across the surface instead of soaking in. Plants can stay small, develop pale leaves or struggle to produce even with regular care.

Healthy soil doesn’t have to be perfectly dark, loose or full of earthworms, but it should give roots access to water, nutrients and air. Improving it takes more than dumping on a bag of fertilizer and hoping for the best.

Starting with what the soil needs

My first step is a soil test.

It isn’t the most exciting garden project, but it may keep me from spending money on products my soil doesn’t need. A soil test reports pH and nutrient levels, then recommends fertilizer based on what I plan to grow. Texas A&M AgriLife runs a soil-testing laboratory for gardeners and landowners, and local Extension offices can explain how to collect and submit a representative sample.

The important word is representative. Soil can vary from one side of a garden to the other, so a useful sample should combine soil from several spots in the same growing area. Problem spots that are clearly different should generally be tested separately instead of mixed into the main sample.

Until I get those results, I don’t need to assume every struggling plant wants more fertilizer. Too much fertilizer can damage plants, waste money and add to nutrient runoff. The problem may not be a shortage of nutrients at all. It could be the wrong pH, poor drainage, compaction or roots that can’t reach what’s already there.

Next, I’ll add organic matter, particularly finished compost. Organic matter improves the soil’s physical condition and makes many soils easier to work. In heavy soil, compost helps air and water move. In sandy soil, it helps the ground hold more moisture and nutrients.

Texas gardeners work with a wide range of soils, but Texas A&M AgriLife notes that almost any garden soil improves with organic matter. When you prepare a fall garden, that material should be well decomposed, not fresh or half-broken-down.

I’ve been guilty of thinking more compost is always better. It isn’t. Compost contains nutrients, and repeated heavy applications can eventually build up excessive nutrient levels. Apply finished compost with some thought, especially if it contains manure. A soil test can tell you whether the garden needs nutrients, organic matter or both.

For an established vegetable or flower bed, I can spread a modest layer of finished compost on the surface and gently work it into the top of the soil where needed. I don’t need to turn the whole garden upside down. Heavy tilling can break down soil structure, disturb beneficial organisms and leave a loose surface sitting on top of a compacted layer.

Protecting the beds

Compaction is one of my bigger problems, and I know exactly how it happened. I step into the garden to pull weeds, pick vegetables, fix irrigation and reach plants at the back of the bed. After enough trips, especially when the ground is wet, the soil packs down.

My fix won’t be a more powerful tiller. It will be better garden design. I can lay out permanent walking paths and keep my feet out of the planting areas. Beds should be narrow enough that I can reach the center from the edge. Limiting foot traffic protects the spaces where roots need loose soil, water and oxygen.

I also need to stop leaving soil bare.

Bare soil may look neat, but it takes the full force of pounding rain, runoff, erosion, weeds and moisture loss. In Texas heat, uncovered soil dries fast and forms a hard crust. Mulch protects it by reducing evaporation, moderating soil temperature and blocking the sunlight weed seeds need. Organic mulch also adds organic material as it breaks down.

Depending on the bed, I can use shredded leaves, clean straw, compost, grass clippings that haven’t been treated with herbicides or other suitable organic materials. I’ll keep mulch a few inches away from plant stems and tree trunks instead of piling it against them.

Mulch won’t solve every soil problem, but it makes the garden easier to keep up. Soil that stays evenly moist is less likely to swing between waterlogged and powder-dry. Fewer weeds mean less hoeing and pulling, which also means less disturbance around roots.

In beds I won’t plant right away, I may try a cover crop. Cover crops keep living roots in the soil, protect the surface and add organic material when they are cut or worked in. Some grow deep roots that can help loosen compacted ground, and legumes may add nitrogen through their partnership with soil bacteria. The right crop and planting time depend on the season and how soon I need the bed again.

I also plan to leave healthy roots in the ground when I can. Instead of pulling every finished plant and taking the attached soil with it, I can cut some plants off at the surface and let their roots decompose in place. Diseased plants and aggressive weeds still have to go, but healthy roots can become part of the soil’s organic cycle.

A long-term project

The hardest part may be accepting that I can’t fix tired soil in one weekend. Soil improves gradually. Compost decomposes, mulch thins, plants use up nutrients, and Texas weather keeps testing every garden plan I make. I’ll have to keep replenishing organic matter and keep checking the soil rather than treating it once and forgetting it. Oklahoma State University Extension describes healthy garden soil as an ongoing project built through composting, mulching, soil testing and other regular practices.

That takes some pressure off. I don’t have to create perfect soil before I plant another seed. I need to stop guessing, protect what I already have and make choices that leave the ground a little better than I found it.

This fall, my garden may still have hard spots, weeds and areas that need more attention. I’m not expecting an overnight transformation. I’m starting with a soil test, finished compost, protected planting beds and a good layer of mulch.

The garden spent the summer working hard. Now it’s my turn to give back some of what I’ve taken from it.

By Ann Asher

Walk through a pasture, garden or wooded trail on a September morning, and the spiders seem to have taken over overnight. Large webs stretch between fence wires, across tall weeds and from one side of a path to the other. Covered with dew and caught in early sunlight, they show how many spiders have been working through the night.

Spiders are around all year, but many become more noticeable in late summer and early fall as they mature and build larger webs. The insects they eat are also plentiful, giving spiders plenty to feed on before cold weather arrives.

If you’ve ever walked face-first into a web, it can be hard to think of spiders as welcome neighbors. Most, however, are harmless to people and valuable in gardens, pastures and barns.

Spiders are predators that feed on insects and other small arthropods. Their prey can include flies, moths, beetles, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, aphids and caterpillars. Oklahoma State University Extension notes that their role in controlling insects far outweighs the limited risk from the few species capable of medically significant bites.

Builders and hunters

The webs most people notice in September usually belong to orb-weaving spiders. Their flat, circular webs have the familiar spokes and spirals of a storybook spider web. Orb-weavers set these traps where flying or jumping insects are likely to pass, including between plants, along fence lines and across openings in wooded areas.

One of the best-known orb-weavers in North Texas is the black-and-yellow garden spider. A mature female can be big enough to cause alarm, with long legs and bold yellow, black or orange markings. Her web may have a thick zigzag of silk down the center. Despite her size and looks, the garden spider is generally harmless to people.

These spiders can catch surprisingly large prey. Texas A&M AgriLife reports that large garden spiders often catch and eat grasshopper-sized insects. Their webs may be a nuisance across a walkway or gate, but the spiders provide natural insect control around gardens and fields.

Not every spider needs a web to catch a meal. Wolf spiders hunt on the ground, moving through grass, leaf litter and bare soil in search of prey. You’ll often see them after dark or around outdoor lights, where insects gather.

Their size and speed sometimes get them mistaken for more dangerous species, but wolf spiders aren’t considered a significant hazard to people.

Female wolf spiders care for their young in an unusual way. They carry a round egg sac attached beneath the abdomen. After the eggs hatch, the tiny spiderlings climb onto their mother’s back and ride there until they are ready to hunt on their own.

Jumping spiders are smaller, compact hunters that use excellent vision and quick movements to stalk insects. Look for them on fences, tree trunks, porch railings or plant leaves. Rather than building a web, they creep close and leap when the moment is right.

Crab spiders also hunt without webs. Often found on flowers, they use camouflage to wait for visiting insects. Some are white, yellow or green, letting them blend into petals and leaves. Web builders and active hunters alike help keep insects in check.

The two to watch for

Most spiders you meet outdoors aren’t dangerous, but North Texas is home to black widows and brown recluse spiders. Both generally prefer protected, undisturbed places rather than open webs across a garden path.

Black widows often build irregular webs in sheltered spots, including woodpiles, storage areas, outdoor furniture, meter boxes and unused containers. Brown recluses prefer dark, quiet places such as boxes, sheds, lumber stacks and the spaces beneath stored items. They don’t usually build the large, circular webs you see in open vegetation.

Neither species goes looking for people. Bites often happen when a spider gets trapped against the skin or disturbed while someone moves stored materials. Wear gloves when handling firewood, boards, boxes or debris, and shake out shoes and clothing that have been stored in a shed or garage before you put them on.

Correct identification matters. People often mistake wolf spiders, grass spiders and other harmless species for brown recluses. A dark marking on a spider’s back isn’t enough for a reliable ID. If you think a medically important spider is around, contact your county Extension office or a qualified pest professional.

Let them work

Outdoors, spiders rarely need controlling. Sweeping a web away from a doorway or busy path is usually enough. The spider may rebuild nearby or move somewhere quieter. Broad insecticide treatments can kill spiders along with many beneficial insects and are often unnecessary in gardens or open landscapes. Oklahoma State University recommends leaving most garden spiders alone because they help suppress pests.

Spiders are also part of the food chain. Birds, reptiles, small mammals and other arthropods eat them, and their presence reflects the steady trade between predators and prey in even a small patch of grass.

The web across your trail may be an inconvenience, but it also means an effective hunter is at work. By morning, that web may hold the remains of moths, flies or grasshoppers that might otherwise have moved into your garden, barn or pasture.

Late summer belongs to the spiders. Their webs catch the dew, mark the paths of insects and reveal a part of the outdoors most of us overlook. Most aren’t waiting to harm anyone. They are doing the work they’ve done all season, one strand at a time.

By Bryce Angell

Eleven teenage cowboys saddled up to hit the trail. If I’d have known what lay ahead I might have turned around to bail.

We’d planned our trip, so many nights, I’d say dang near a year. My cousin was the one in charge of all the food and gear.

We rode back in some twenty miles. The horses all but spent. Then set up camp and cooked the steaks inside our new cook tent.

The horses were all fenced in or were tied up for the night. ’Twas time to sit next to the fire. A well-deserved delight.

With bellies full of grub and sitting by the fire’s glow, Old Mother Nature made her call. Said, “Time for you to go!”

I quizzed my cousin, “Toilet Paper?” Desperate in my plea. I won’t forget his wide eyes if I live to ninety-three.

He said, “I plumb forgot about the toilet paper roll! Ya better start to gather leaves and dig yourself a hole.”

The frightful news sure traveled fast out to the young cowboys. They calculated lynching but were full of hot air noise.

So, we gathered leaves, then hurried off, the well-known, “Two Step Stride.” But all too soon the leaves were scratchy for our young backside.

My cousin said, “Just do your job then head down to the lake. But don’t forget your Ivory Soap and scrub for goodness sake!”

We were finally back to normal. No more scratchy, itchy seats. Compared to leaves and grass the Ivory Soap was hard to beat.

The youngest of the cowboys said, “Let’s contact Ivory Soap. We could be an advertisement for how we’d all lost hope.

“Then Ivory to the rescue. Now our cheeks are super clean.” Another cowboy hollered, “That would be a gruesome scene!”

So that night, while sleeping in my bag, I heard the loudest splash. I rolled on out then headed for the lake in one fast dash.

The sky was clear, the moon so bright, heard yodeling calls from Loons. But on that fateful night, I swear, I witnessed two full moons.