Gardening Tips
Spread that Fall Compost!
Fall finds me smiling for many reasons, not least of which is thinking about all the Soil Food Webbers out there happily and diligently applying microbes to the soil. Where do those microbes come from? Compost of course! Conventional wisdom would have us see compost as a fertilizer; containing soluble nutrients prone to leaching or […]
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 […]
Let There Be Air
Compaction is a pretty big deal when you’re trying to grow plants. How far can roots go down before they hit “hard pan” and must go sideways? How far can water infiltrate until it, too, must go sideways, leaching soluble nutrients and potentially carrying precious topsoil away? Compaction can be caused by the weight of […]
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 […]
Water Woes
I’ve been thinking a lot about water these days, standing for what feels like hours on end (it’s really not), hand-watering veggies. Irony wafts around me as I follow the existing drip irrigation system. Why? When I initially had the system installed, the plan was to eventually wean my way off it. This came from […]
Spring Tips for Nurturing Soil Microbes
With the spring warmth comes that sense of shift in energy and vitality, like something inside us is unfurling. Soil microbes also undergo this transformation, emerging from dormancy to partner again with above-ground life. Plants need both energy and nutrients to unfurl themselves – with the sun and air comes that energy, and with the […]
Compost with Confidence this Fall
The other day I was asked “how can a compost pile fail?”. This is an excellent question and the answer depends on your definition of compost. The most amusing one I have heard is that “compost is organic matter that has been decomposed in a process called composting.” The Queen of Compost, Dr Elaine Ingham, […]