Soil Food Web Basics for Regenerative Gardens

Soil food webs form the backbone of ecosystems, from supporting crops that nourish humans to wildlife like deer and wild boars – and with hydroponics or other regenerative farming methods you can join this global effort towards more sustainable farming and reduce global warming with every crop you produce. Plants Regenerative gardeners take an holistic approach when planting flowers or vegetables, nurturing both the plant itself and the native soil it lives in. By adding compost, mulches, cover crops or other techniques such as feeding with organic matter like compost tea to these soils they improve structure, fertility and water …

Backyard Biochar for Long Lasting Soil Carbon

Biochar is adsorptive, meaning it absorbs nutrients and water when mixed with soil, sucking up both essential elements for plant life. Furthermore, it attracts beneficial microbes like endomycorrhizae that form mutualistic relationships with plant roots thereby increasing absorptive surface area and stress resistance. Waste materials that contain carbon such as nut shells, woody invasive plants, yard trimmings or corn cobs can all be turned into biochar. The best results come when combined with compost as well as an inoculant to provide nutrients/microbes that thrive. Benefits Char has long been used to enhance soil, particularly during the Amazonian rain forest’s Terra …

Troubleshooting Egyptian Walking Onions

When planting onions in the fall, select varieties suitable to your climate. Short-day varieties begin producing bulbs when day length reaches 12 hours while long-day varieties require 14-16 hours of daylight before beginning bulbing.

Companion Planting With Egyptian Walking Onions

Egyptian Walking Onions (Allium x proliferum) are perennial plants that thrive in cold-hardy gardens, featuring clusters of bulbils atop their stems that develop into heavier bulbs that eventually fall to the ground and root into new locations – an effective self-propagating onion variety which makes them great additions to perennial beds.