So, I did something crazy, I put an ad on craigslist and one on freecycle. Both offered free worms to anyone starting a worm bin, but also mentioned I have a microscope and would like to help anyone who wants to balance their soil. I made clear that I am not a professional or expert, but that I can facilitate the process of learning to garden with microbes and explain any science questions.
I got hits right away! And today I am headed to someone's backyard, and after we are headed here to use the microscope.
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
You can totally come to WI and check out my garden soil!Aw, that's sweet of you dixana, but I've been learning that some people don't want to listen to this message because it sounds too good to be true, and it requires some medium mental lifting. But a forum like this preselects for the amenable type, so showing it to the reluctant types is a real shock. They think you are following some weird cult. Symbiotes? Plant control? Exudates? Polysaccharides? Wha???? And if you try to give through explanations, you are too technical and thus elitist. That's why I put the ad out - to get that same preselection so I am not blowing into the wind. /end rant
Anyhoo, I can PM you my address and you can send me soil. I love looking at new soil. A description of the environmental conditions help me learn.
back to the topic - so this was cool, I got to culture my first fungal compost. I met this really cool gal who has a green thumb for sure, but all of her food was on the fungal side. We observed the soil from all over her yard directly without a coverslip (I can do this up to 500x with a special lens). There was not much action, so I showed her some unfinished worm castings, which looks like someone let the animals out at the zoo.
She walked away a bit depressed, but I told her to wait for the culture. Sure enough, after culturing (I make aerated compost tea in a pill bottle) it came alive - with fungal spores galore. So I suggested if she wanted to start a hot pile she might keep that nice fungal compost going.
I could use some tips for her beds though. She has very nice garden soil mixed with aged leaves as a medium, and I've never seen that before. I told her molasses and green mulch. She did have some osmocote there and she was probably relieved that I didn't give her EDITED - PLEASE REPORT THIS POST about it. I figure since it comes out slow maybe the microbes can still thrive. Of course I would rather not see it.
Anyhoo, I can PM you my address and you can send me soil. I love looking at new soil. A description of the environmental conditions help me learn.
back to the topic - so this was cool, I got to culture my first fungal compost. I met this really cool gal who has a green thumb for sure, but all of her food was on the fungal side. We observed the soil from all over her yard directly without a coverslip (I can do this up to 500x with a special lens). There was not much action, so I showed her some unfinished worm castings, which looks like someone let the animals out at the zoo.
She walked away a bit depressed, but I told her to wait for the culture. Sure enough, after culturing (I make aerated compost tea in a pill bottle) it came alive - with fungal spores galore. So I suggested if she wanted to start a hot pile she might keep that nice fungal compost going.
I could use some tips for her beds though. She has very nice garden soil mixed with aged leaves as a medium, and I've never seen that before. I told her molasses and green mulch. She did have some osmocote there and she was probably relieved that I didn't give her EDITED - PLEASE REPORT THIS POST about it. I figure since it comes out slow maybe the microbes can still thrive. Of course I would rather not see it.
-
Binkalette
- Senior Member
- Posts: 139
- Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:53 pm
- Location: Minnesota - zone 4a
Ooh can I send you some of my soil too? I'd LOVE to have my garden soil and my yard soil looked at! The yard soil is more clay than anything else, the garden is black but I have no idea what kind of dirt it would be. Not very good dirt probably.
How much dirt would you need, and from where (surface/further down?)?
How much dirt would you need, and from where (surface/further down?)?
just pm me guys.
I'm not going to tell you about your texture. That you can do yourself with the jar test.
samples - just follow the guidelines on the soil foodweb inc. site.
send me something labelled and organized or I will be futzing for ever.
remember - I'm not a trained expert. I just have a toy. I'm just going to describe what I see as best I can and try to learn. So you are helping me, not the other way.
I'm not going to tell you about your texture. That you can do yourself with the jar test.
samples - just follow the guidelines on the soil foodweb inc. site.
send me something labelled and organized or I will be futzing for ever.
remember - I'm not a trained expert. I just have a toy. I'm just going to describe what I see as best I can and try to learn. So you are helping me, not the other way.
So I changed my ad a bit.
For starters I introduced myself as Toil (it feels like an alter-ego now, not just a handle - Toil even has his own email). So people can actually come here and see what I am about.
Then I offered no free worms. I just said "me and my microscope plus you and your soil = a better garden, and threw in some alliterative passages.
next modification I will ask folks to have containers for samples, do the jar test, and mention using the postal service to cut down on driving.
I'm excited because I am getting messages from people starting a garden who don't know where to start. Tabula rasa!
For starters I introduced myself as Toil (it feels like an alter-ego now, not just a handle - Toil even has his own email). So people can actually come here and see what I am about.
Then I offered no free worms. I just said "me and my microscope plus you and your soil = a better garden, and threw in some alliterative passages.
next modification I will ask folks to have containers for samples, do the jar test, and mention using the postal service to cut down on driving.
I'm excited because I am getting messages from people starting a garden who don't know where to start. Tabula rasa!