Start with the soil

Architects and engineers designing buildings start with the foundation. So should you in your garden. Almost everything starts there. There is a whole web of life going on in your soil that can be fostered and assisted using natural products and techniques.

Watch this video and prepare to be amazed:

With remineralizing the soil, and compost, he was able to grow food with amazing yield and quality naturally. He used volcanic rock dust.  Some sell and use glacial rock dust. I am conducting an experiment in my garden with different types of rock dust - results to be published here later.

A couple of other ways are growing green cover crops in the winter, especially nitrogen fixing plants like legumes.  Or grow a crop with the intention of tilling it under in the spring - it's called green manure.

You could try the no-till method.  This is a method of gardening or farming where tilling is kept to a minimum or not at all. The thinking behind this is to keep the soil from becoming a dust bowl again - tilled over and over until it is no longer arable.

You can read about soil biology here. You'll be a wiser gardener/farmer for it.

The Role of Cover Crops

This should get you revved up for this fall's cover crop. Understand why it's so important and how it yields better with lower costs. No brainer, right?

Using Biochar (charcoal) in your garden

I've noticed something new in this year's spring gardening videos and the blogsphere, biochar. "[B]iochar can increase soil fertility, raise agricultural productivity..."

Last year I saw a video of the guy organotill.org show how he grows mycchorizal fungi:

Then he mixed the biochar and mycchorizal fungi. The fungi find a home in the soil stable biochar. As you know from previous posts, mycchorizal fungi acts like a root extender. Adding a stable home for it, by way of using biochar, grants the fungi longevity in your soil. Thus moving toward a true no-till garden.

Here are several other videos where you can learn more about biochar:

One way to make biochar"

Enjoy!

Move

The move went well and all is well here in zone 8b or 9. Completely different soil and weather patterns than I'm used to but it's a large enough city and there's work to be done :-)

You should be thinking about:
- what to grow this spring and summer
- when are you going to plant
- tilling under the hairy vetch and clover I'm SURE you planted last fall
- seeing how your compost is coming along

If you haven't had a soil test completed by your county extension agent, get one and amend soil as specified. This is a no-brainer and the single best thing you can do to ensure garden success.

I will miss my Paw Paw trees, my Artic Kiwi, blueberries, and great soil I had created in the garden. And the herbs, oh yeah. If you've never cooked with fresh herbs, go to the back of your cooking class and take a knee.

Comment on this post to let me know what YOU are doing to prepare for the summer.

Great pratical way to make compost

It's raining several times a week and my hairy vetch and crimson clover are growing well - it's been a mild winter so far. I weed out some Chickweed as I find it.

The garlic, shallots, remaining romaine, and Kohlrabi are growing well. I finally see cauliflower florets setting - pretty cool.

There's not much to do this time of year except weed when needed and continue to compost. Toward that end, here's a video that is a very practical look at how to make you own compost.

Grow your own food

Short and sweet - I grow my own food:
- So I don't have to pay the rapidly increasing supermarket prices
- To know what is it I am growing
- Because it's healthier
- It's not genetically modified (GMO)

Here's a short video explaining why this guy grows his own food. I buy seeds from this place as well.

Cover crops and weeds

As I wrote in my last entry, I planted cover crops on the raised in-place beds. I saw them start to come alive with green. Being my first year planting cover crops, I didn't know what to expect.

It turns out one reason they came alive so quickly and brightly was due to chickweed. By its name you can guess it's a weed. It took the help of my extension agent to identify it. By that time, my cover crops were almost the same size and color - green - and leaves that weren't very different from the clover I planted.

Now it take considerable time and delicacy to root out the viney weed that intruded in my garden uninvited.

Note for next fall, till then cover with plastic for a few weeks before planting cover crop.