Fungi
DIY Mycorrhizal Fungi for Veggies
Mycorrhizal fungi are “obligate symbionts”, meaning that they need a host plant to survive. Endomycorrhizal fungi, also called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi or AMF, are essential partners of 70-90% of all plant species, including the majority of the vegetables in your garden this year. AMF don’t produce mushrooms. They propagate via underground spores, pieces of host […]
Winter Composting Tips
At this latitude there probably aren’t too many people actively winter composting, unless you have an indoor space for thermophilic piles (and are hardcore!). Most folks tend to have a static pile out the back, where yard waste is thrown during the warmer months and kitchen scraps tossed year-round. Small worm farms are also becoming […]
How’s Your Soil Structure?
It’s always seemed to me like we have a water storage problem, rather than a drought problem, here on the island. Ask any permaculturalist or regenerative farmer the best way to store water and they will tell you, hands down, that it’s in the soil. Storing water this way requires good soil structure, and for […]
Herbs, Weeds, and a Nice Surprise
The most challenging thing about helping people partner with microbes in their gardens is encouraging a shift in mindset. Gardening is a bit like parenting – there are lots of opinions and different ways of doing things, methods are handed down through generations, and results can sometimes be frustrating. Thankfully for soil health (and […]
The Thing About Brassicas
An old feeling hits at this time of year. With the flurry of spring planting behind me and summer watering upon me, I just want to sit back and not think about the garden for quite a while. Go camping. Swim somewhere. The first weeks of July pass and I think dang it, I missed […]
The Dance of Succession
There’s a dance going on, above and below ground. It’s an intelligent dance – in ways we are just beginning to understand – and it’s synergistic, responsive and adaptive. Plants and microorganisms engaged together, living and dying, as nature moves forward in succession from rock to old growth forest over vast amounts of time. So […]
Ancient Relationships
In our fragmented society, where concepts of competition and survival of the fittest pervade our way of life, we could learn a thing or two from one of the oldest of relationships. Somewhere around 600 million years ago fungi and algae formed a collaboration that allowed algae to move out of the sea and onto […]
It’s Raining Bugs
Well, not quite bugs – microbes! As someone who still squeals every time I see a new type of soil organism beneath the microscope, imagine my delight to discover that these same microbes are an important catalyst for the formation of rain, hail, and snow, and are thought to be responsible for up to 80% […]