Resilience Starts with Life “…but what do I do for the living soil during drought?” As the Down & Dirty workshop tours the West Coast, from Seattle to San Diego, this is the question on everyone’s mind – and for
Healthy Soil during Drought
Buckwheat Green Manure: Fill the Summer Gap to Build Soils Fast
Simple Summer Buckwheat: Fast, friendly, and fresh summer soil food for the short gap to build long-lasting soil health At last, summer has arrived! Gardens overflow and our hands are happily busy weeding, seeding, harvesting spring veggies, and prepping for fall. If you are like
Fertilizers or Amendments? What to Use for Soil Food
Fertilizers or Amendments. Does the difference have you scratching your head? Soil fertilizers or amendments. Confused? There’s a good reason. There’s not a sharp line between fertilizers and amendments. Fertilizers can be amendments and amendments can be fertilizers. They both
Feed the Soil, Part 1: What are Organic Soil Amendments
The what and why of organic soil amendments and soil food What’s the secret to rich, productive soil? Food! Soil has to eat…just like us and every other living thing out there. Our most important garden job is feeding the
The Dirt on Soil. Interview with Mary Beth Breckenridge of the Akron Beacon Journal
Dirty Secrets: 10 ways to improve garden soil. Guest post on Gardenista.com
Online Resources for Cover Crops and Green Manures
Your Guide to… Green Manure and Cover Crop Resources As gardeners, we know how to grow plants. Cover crops and green manures are no different. We just need to know three basic pieces of information to make green manures work in our
Got a Brown Thumb? Stick it in a Green Manure!
How to Get Started with Cover Crops and Green Manures in the Garden For a long time cover crops and green manures seemed like a dream. Growing plants in my garden that both fertilized and built up dark, rich soils –
Why Soil? Why Now? 2015 the International Year of Soils
You might have thought, according to the Chinese zodiac, that 2015 rang in the year of the sheep. This year, however, sheep will share this title with the soils that grow their green pastures. To help celebrate the New Year,
Let Daikon Till Your Garden: Radish Cover Crop Works Soil Wonders
The Secret to Soil Health is in the Roots When planting a cover crop to protect or feed our soils, we focus on the cover. Success comes in swaths of green that protect the bare ground and add nutrients when we till