Making Potting Soil.

   Making your own potting soil is simple and easy. It is also a much better quality product than what you can buy. Plus it is sustainable. You can make a wheel barrow of potting soil in less time than it takes to drive to the store and buy the mix. The ingredients in your jiffy mix are not really organic or sustainable. Peat moss does not make a good planting medium. It is mined from Nova Scotia where there is miles of land that has been destroyed for your product. The three ingredients consist of compost, shifted through a 1/4" mesh screen. Course sand. This can be found in streams or creeks. Sometimes it is sold as river sand. I have found this to be less course than I like. Do not use play box sand or masonry sand. It is too fine and cakes. The third ingredient is leaf mold. Make a pile of leaves. I find leaves in town from people I know who do not spray their yards. I take the bags home. It takes about a year for them to breakdown. If run through a lawn mower with a bagger, it breaks down more quickly. Caution, leaf mold will contain weeds. So it helps to know what your seedlings look like. Worm castings can be used in place of compost. I have done experiments with both and they are equal in the results.
  It takes time to put together these resources like finding sand, making compost and leaf piles, but this is part of making your garden or farm complete. When these aspects of your garden are in place, you will also will be more complete as a gardener with the work you are doing. making potting soil puts you more in control, more informed about your work and a better facilitator of the land you are working. Remember that the garden and gardener grow together. There is more detailed information in my book, Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming.



  Place the ingredients onto a flat surface like a piece of plywood. It is

best to mix with a flat shovel. Get someone to spray a five mist of water while you are mixing. This allows air and water to go into the mix at the same time. You only want to moisten the mix, not saturate it, so it holds together well. If you can squeeze out a drop or two of water that is ideal. The mix I use is about 1 to 2 parts compost to one part sand and one part leaf mold. The standard recipe is equal parts compost, sand and leaf mold. This mix  is best for propagating. Once the mix is made keep it damp so it stays rich and alive. This mix holds water well yet drains well. This means it is a balance of both properties.                                                                 The photos below show the planters I use for small seedlings like spinach and broccoli. The box is made form old recycled crates. I place hardwood leaves in the bottom to provide air and so the roots don't stick to the wood. The picture on the right is the flat ready to plant. Tamp is down the whole box and scrape the soil level. Spay it lightly for small seeds.            

bifucated carrots blog.

  Since I have started this blog, I have discovered and interacted with other garden blog site. I would like to add a link to a wonderful garden blog; http://bifucatedcarrots.eu   They were nice enough to promote my blog and my book, Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming (Biodynamic Principles and Perspectives). Please check them out. 

  Spring has finally arrived in the piedmont. I think Feb. was March and March was Feb. But as always we are here now. I will be working on more informative blogs in the coming weeks.So stay tuned. happy Easter and happy Passover and happy spring. Be well. 

Mostly Tomato Mania: New Blog Started

Mostly Tomato Mania: New Blog Started Your blog is very informative. I also have started a blog, frankholzman.blogspot.com  Not quite know what I am doing. I am using it to promote my book, Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming. It is based on the work I have done since the 1970's through my non profit REAP. My bio, http://frankholzman.tripod.com/frankholzmanresume.com  I would like to net work with other bloggers.

Regenerative Agriculture & Horticulture

• Regenerative Gardening and Farming.
• This blog has been set up as a vehicle to promote my book, Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming (subtitle; Biodynamic Principles and Perspectives). Part of the motivation for writing this book is to help inform growers and gardeners about how to become better stewards of the land.

•  Back in the 1970s, we were all learning with no clear place to learn. Many of us were essentially reinventing the wheel on organics. Fast forward to this millennium and I see so many people still reinventing that same wheel. Through my non profit REAP, I have visited several small farms. It is not uncommon to see no compost and no use of cover crops and yet many of these farms are certified organic. I have not used the word organic in years. The food they produce has little or no taste. This is the new generation of growers. Consumers have no closer relationship with their food than they did back in the 1970s. I have taught hundreds of people how tho grow without the use of synthetic chemicals, mostly through my workshops, here and in other countries. Some people are surprised when I tell them that you don't need a certificate, licence or training to become a farmer. The idea that people abuse a piece of land in order to learn, so they can say they are a farmer is appalling.  I love my work, I love healing and regenerating land and I wish to share my passion. I also continue to learn through conducting research. It is a continual process that allows me to grow. I hope to keep doing this until it is time to make compost out of me. I have worked in many aspects of horticulture and small scale agriculture since the early 1970s. Having worked in a variety of countries and environments has given me a lot of insights. I have also developed a reverence and obedience for nature. That is why I emulate nature when creating a garden or farm. I observe the surrounding environment and try to fit into it. I do not call myself an expert and shy away from people who do. If you do this type of work and do it with lots of love and integrity it could be viewed as a spiritual work. Creating a balanced ecosystem involves developing an intimate relationship with a piece of land. It takes time and is very rewarding. Those of us who do this have a deep connection with the earth. This work feeds us spiritually and gives our life deep meaning and that draws me deeper into the garden. Thank you.

Composting Continued:  Vermiculture.                                    

This information is taken from my book, Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming, published by Rowman and Littlefield. Using worms to make compost is more practical for small home gardens. It is also a great way to recycle kitchen waste. Start with a tub with about 1 to 2 square feet of surface area and at about 10" deep. An old kitty litter box worrks well for starters. Small holes is the bottom help access water to drain or else water very lightly every week or two. Place strips of cardboard on the bottom with shredded paper. This allows air pockets on the bottom for the worms. Fill in with about 3" of compost shiftings,  leaf mold,  rotted sawdust, coffee grounds, etc.  I use red wigglers (Eisenia fetida). They are more aggressive eaters than regular garden worms. You can find them at a local bait shop. About 1 lb. of worms will work for the size listed. Add a couple cups of food scraps to get them started. Then cover with a few more inches of soil, compost, coffee grounds, etc. A light water and place out of the way. They prefer darkness but are adaptable. You can feed them most produce. They do not like citrus skins or skins laden with pesticides. Do not feed them meat or dairy. Coffee grounds can be found at most coffee shops. Egg shells provide a good source of calcium. They love melons. Tomatoes and pepper seeds will sprout in the box so you might want to avoid them. Cover the box from rain if outside. They can also freeze in cold weather. Worms can drown if too much water is present. They need air and water just like us. When adding food dig it in and cover it. As they worms increase you may need to add more material. Worms reproduce in 2-3 weeks and produce about a dozen babies at a time. After 2-3 months you can start collecting the worm castings to use as fertilizer. To do this start feeding them on one side only, so the worms will move to that side. Then you can harvest from the other side without harming the worms.  It can be a fun project for kids and a very good fertilizer. 

Composting 101

The best way to build healthy soil is with compost and cover crops. There are many ways to make compost. At www.Tierrasonsrisagarden.com we make production compost for our market garden or small farm. The method we use is based on Sir Albert Howard's method. All composting requires the correct carbon/ nitrogen ratios. Green materials and manure = nitrogen., dry materials (hay, dry leaves, sawdust) = carbon. So about 2/3 dry to 1/3 green. I put layers of rough stalks and dray material on the bottom of approx. 6" followed by 3" of my green/manure source. Next I add a thin layer or sprinkling of either granite sand, wood ash or soil. Then the process is repeated until I run out of materials. On top is a layer of hay and cap it off with a layer of soil to hold it down. Each layer is watered down, as the bacteria and fungus require large amounts of air and water. I build the pile around a pipe inserted a few inches in the soil. It is removed a day or two later. This allows air to get into the center of the pile.

Time of a new season. Seasons Greetings. 

 This is a opportune time to restore the land to a healthy state. Regenerative gardening and farming starts with healing the land. To heal land is to put it in order so that it functions in an optimum way. One of the best ways to do this is to contribute to it's diversity. Introduce an abundance of life both above and below the ground. When doing this it helps to be aware of the relationships and disrelationships of living things. Being aware of how all these entities interact takes time. This encourages a confluent manner to the flow as it evolves. The compatibility of different species will enhance the health of the entire ecosystem. I discuss this more in my book, Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming. 

 It is also important to encourage pathways for the flow of energy. This allows cycles to be complete.There are the obvious ones, like the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, hydrogen cycle and so on. There is also the flow of energy which flows in cycles. These are often over looked.  The four elements play a vital role in the transfer of energy. Fire is one of cleansing and replenishing. The greatest source of fire is the sun. It is the source of energy for the planet. Plants capture this energy and transform it into food through photosynthesis. They manufacture protein and nutrients that allow us to live. Air moves freely as it circles around our daily lives. In the air are various gases that provide nutrients. Winds foster change and change is inevitable.. The winds of change help pollinate the plants. They also disseminate seeds and disease. Do not obstruct it's flow, but rather reroute it. Earth is the most stable element. This is the one we can most affect positively. The soil is composed of many life forms that contain energy that supports life. Water supports many life forms. It also transports many materials. When you obstruct it's flow it becomes stagnant and unhealthy. When it flows it cleanses and replenishes. Even a swamp has a natural flow and supports many forms of life. Cosmic energies  have a magnetic pull on these elements. This relates to the four fold plant relationship which enhances the part of the plant we wish to harvest.

 Seasonal cycles effect our lifestyle, but not nearly as much as they effect the lifestyle of a farmer. Seasonal changes require and obedience to nature. Winter dormancy puts many things into a suspended state. It's almost as if the trees are meditating, collecting energy and shutting down for a needed rest. People seem to have a difficult time distinguishing between needs and wants. In nature there is no distinction between needs and wants. Spring is a vibrant time when everyone wakes up refreshed and goes to work. This is also our time to collect ourselves and start to prepare for a new season.