Biochar: Miracle or Gimmick?

...ppeared to be some benefit of using biochar in the nutrient-depleted sandy soils at the Andover site for some crops. Yet, there was a decrease in growth in some plants and higher yield in others. In the Arboretum and St. Paul campus sites, we noted similar results, but more crops seemed to decline with biochar than without it. There’s nothing new about biochar. It was in use by native peoples in the Amazon region before Columbus. Hopefully this st...

Read…

Bread and Roses

...opinion, is that at some times of the year the leaves are just frankly, uninteresting. As I noted I’m no rose expert, so I’d appreciate your opinions about ways to make our roses more healthy and vigorous. The soil they are planted in leaves a lot to be desired and I’m very confused about watering needs. I’m also open to suggestions from readers about interesting rose varieties either climbing or bush....

Read…

A Painful Beekeeping Lesson

...and lit palm trees on fire. Unfortunately for me, the deluge softened the soil underneath one of the legs of one of my beehives causing it to fall over and knock over another hive. I didn’t discover this situation until 7 p.m. as it was getting dark. Kelly was out of town and I was alone in the backyard staring at a jumble of bee boxes. Here’s what I should have done: Take a deep breath. Pause, and assess the situation. Come up with a plan. Gathe...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: Taking Back the Wheel

...18 Assessment of Current Practices of Organic Farmers Regarding Biological Soil Amendments of Animal Origin in a Multi-regional US Study #Organic #FoodSafety #UCDavis @piresalda1 @micheletjay @ucdavisvetmed @ucanr @wifss @OrganicCenter @OrganicTrade https://t.co/D4xPwUqqBy pic.twitter.com/8STfDJSuHl — IIFH (@UCDavisIIFH) September 8, 2018 “Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel, and need no special parking facil...

Read…

De-Cluttering the Garden

...roblem with clutter in our garden comes in the form of empty pots, bags of soil and amendments with no home, gloves housing spiders, tools leaning here, there and everywhere, never where you need them. Our climate alone allows us to (mostly) get away with this behavior. Elsewhere it would all rust or rot if left out like this. I know it’s not the KonMari way to add storage space or devices to deal with clutter, but this is more like having a car w...

Read…