Everyday we hear of soil scientists, farmers, and gardeners alike discovering something new about the rich world under our feet: soil! Soil is an amazing living ecosystem in which we rely so heavily on for our food, medicine, shelter, and clothing.

Our work at Ecology Artisans is heavily influenced by soil regeneration pioneers such as Dr. Elaine Ingham, Gabe Brown, Dr. Christine Jones, Colin Seis, and Darren J. Doherty. We as a company believe that healthy soil solves many issues that our society faces. Stormwater runoff, droughts, and soil loss become mitigated when we have healthy soils that can store water for longer periods of time. Not to mention that healthy soils create healthy food, which leads to a healthier, less disease prone and robust society.

A 1% increase in organic matter in our soil increases water holding capacity by 25,000 gallons per acre. Photo courtesy of Kiss The Ground.

Whether you are a backyard homesteader, native plant landscape lover, or large...

Mulch is great for your garden as well as our planet!

Water is a precious resource so it's extremely important to conserve water in our landscapes and mulch is a great way to do that. Treat your plants and earth well and your garden will flourish!

Mulch protects plants from UV rays

UV Rays that enter dry, exposed soil can kill the roots of your plants. In addition, the sun will evaporate precious water resources in the soil. A layer of mulch acts like sunscreen to protect the plant’s roots and prevents water from evaporating from the soil.

Mulch acts like a sponge to soak up water

Mulch acts like a sponge, soaks up water and stores it for future use. In addition, it reduces the amount of water that evaporates from the soil into the atmosphere. Your plants will have more water, and you will be able to to water your garden less frequently. Choose coarser mulches as fine mulches can sometimes create an impenetrable layer over your soil.

Mulch keeps out weeds

Mulch keeps out...

Learning how to make compost will make you a better gardener or farmer

Compost is soil's version of a probiotic rich, nutrient dense cake. Sweet, tasty, and crawling with life (if built correctly), compost is a fast way to deliver food to your plants.

Compost reaching the 'dark chocolate' stage. Yum.

There are many ways to make compost.

Choosing the style of compost creation will depend on your site, your availability, resources/compost ingredients, and intended end use. This method of how to make compost utilizes the hot/thermal method and a galvanized wire cage to help maintain shape. We learned of this method at Dr. Elaine Ingham's Soil Foodweb master class. We highly recommend taking one of her seminars to learn much more about the intricacies of the soil food web and how we fit into it. Other methods of compost creation are the cold composting/worm composting (vermicomposting) or static composting.

How to Make Compost - Hot/Thermal Method using Galvanized Wire Cage

This...

Spring is in the air – It’s time! Your neighbors have been pumping out greens and their veggies are already starting to look promising. Starting a veggie garden is straightforward and simple. Get a friend, get creative, and get growing! In this installment of Get Your Garden On, we share tips on locating your veggie garden, choosing planting areas, soil amending, and more. Let's get dirty!

Determine your exposure.

Most vegetables need at least eight hours of full sun every day. Flowers and other ornamental type plants have different sunlight needs, depending on the variety. Check out what sort of light your yard gets throughout the day. Go out in the morning, noon-time and late afternoon to get an idea of how the sunlight moves across your yard and note the sunny and shady areas. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have 8 hours of full fun, you can get creative with how to reflect extra light towards your growing area. Check out this handy veggie growing chart...