Tag Archives: soil health

Cover Crops for Gardens

Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil health, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control pests, and bring a host of other benefits to your garden. This class will address what cover crops to use in your garden, when and how to plant and terminate them, and what benefits you can expect to reap from adding cover crops to your home garden.

Teacher
Dr. Andy Clark has been working with cover crops for almost 30 years, and he has been using cover crops in his community garden for just as long. Ten years of university cover crop research addressed nitrogen and soil water dynamics using grass and legume cover crops. Currently the communications director of a USDA program in sustainable agriculture (www.sare.org), he is the editor of several editions of the SARE book, Managing Cover Crops Profitably.

Soil Biology

Returning to the systems that got us here: Understanding how the life in the soil and plants together create permanent fertility in natural systems and how we can mimic this in our agricultural systems.

Teacher
Benjamin Friton In 2010 he co-founded Can YA Love, an organization specializing in supporting orphanages, schools, and youth & women’s groups in densely populated areas around the world by setting up customized agricultural systems that provide continuous support to their mission. He is currently focusing his efforts as a soil-ecologist, educator and designer at Forested, a ten-acre food forest in just 6 miles East of DC.

Skill Class: Soil Ecology & Compost

Build a soil ecosystem to improve the health of your garden, your body and the world

Cost: $100

Description: Improve and restore degraded soils. If we are to understand the systems that have allowed human life to flourish, there is no more important or less understood component than the soil. In this class, you will learn how to analyze different soil conditions and build sound soil ecology to improve soil structure, root penetration, water retention, biodiversity, pest resistance, nutrient cycling and fertility. Topics covered will include:

Composting Fundamentals. Explore the spectrum of approaches to composting to fit specific site and plant needs.

Accelerated High-Nitrogen Composting. Build a compost pile designed to complete the composting process in under 1 month.

Compost Tea. Brew compost tea and learn how to apply it to supercharge beneficial microbial communities in all your growing systems.

Humanure. Observe two different composting toilet systems in action—hot and cold style composting.

Vermicompost. Create a worm composting habitat to quickly create top quality garden amendment.

Urban Waste Stream. Discuss the range of excellent free composting materials to be found in abundance in urban environments.

Location: Forested in Bowie, MD. Be sure to read how to get into the site here. Google Maps by itself will not get you here.

Qualifications: Participants should feel comfortable working outside in any weather. Some heavy lifting might be required. Participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Sturdy footwear is required as well as appropriate outdoor clothing. Please bring a pair of work gloves if you have them.

Food: Snacks and drinks will be provided, but please bring lunch.

Registration: Pay below or email Lincoln to let us know you’re coming.

Work Trade: We accept the $100 class fee, 10 hours of volunteer work, or any combination of the two. Payment is prefered to help us continue to develop the forest garden. Email Lincoln to inquire about a work trade.

Groups: Bring friends and save! Select a number below for group discount price. Email Lincoln if you’d like to bring more than 4 people.