More compost
Premade plastic bins are great for newbies and for those who demand a slick visual appearance in the garden. But ours is a culture which has been so completely out-of-touch with natural cycles and growing things; we have lost our…
Preparing a new garden
What we did at the Community Garden at Holy Nativity: Removed lawn. Waited for regrowth. Dug out regrowth. (We did rototill after regrowth removal.) Marked the footpaths and defined growing spaces. We have variously used wood, plastic edging, and rocks,…
As close to a closed-loop system as possible
Ultimately, to maintain ongoing soil fertility, we are faced with figuring out how to put as much material back into the soil as we drew out of it. We must offset soil losses by building up soil gains. Soil losses:…
Moving the compost
Q: What is hot and juicy and black and very, very stinky? A: My anaerobic compost trial. In the mid 1990’s when we lived in Orange County, composters were hard to come by. I read somewhere that you could compost…
Compost Happens
Making compost isn’t rocket science. Admittedly, upon deep scientific analysis the soil web is highly complex. But Nature knows her stuff. Don’t get in her way. Work with her, embrace her as your partner, and she’ll ably handle all those…
Healthy garden soil is ALIVE.
One teaspoon of compost may contain: 1 billion invisible bacteria(20,000 to 30,000 species of them),400 to 900 feet of fungal hyphae (thread-like structures), 10,000 to 50,000 protozoa, and 30 to 300 nematodes. Then there are algaes and slime molds, and…
Soil building
Feed your soil. Your soil feeds your plants and your plants feed you. — Paraphrased from John Jeavons When I teach the soil-building session at my class series at the Community Garden at Holy Nativity, I always bring along my…
There’s too much to learn!
I’ve been hearing this line lately, as Transition Los Angeles works with people to help them adapt toward post-petroleum lifestyles. “There’s too much to learn!” But look at what you already know. Look at the massive amount of knowledge you…
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Rediscover Production
To consume means to destroy. That’s why “consumption” was the name given to tuberculosis. – Vandana Shiva[i] Producing food. For the most part, people alive today have lost touch with this most basic of human activities. Instead, we have become…
The Evolving Question
My personal garden has been a grand experiment. For the first 15 or so years I dabbled at growing vegetables. At first it was about novelty: How could I stretch the tomato season? Tangy mesclun, nutty Christmas limas, and smoky…