Search Results for: label/soil/2011/04/making-it

650 results

Will We Keep Keeping Chickens?

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Animals, Chickens
19 Comments
...eeping chickens in our small, urban backyard. We have lead and zinc in the soil, so many predators that the hens have to live in what I call “chicken Guantanamo,” and a small irregular piece of property that makes using a chicken tractor impossible. While I built a generous run for our four hens, I really wish that they could wander more freely, but that’s just not possible where we live. Another big change that’s happened since we started keeping...

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Peat Moss is Gardening Crack

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Gardening
14 Comments
...tted plants and raised beds we’ve used our share of peat moss. Many bagged soil providers like to say that their peat is “sustainably” harvested. The image above as well as an extensive list of citations and peat alternatives in the Facebook group In Defense of Plants proves that peat moss is as sustainable as tobacco is safe. Here’s those citations: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090904165253.htm http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/...

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Our new front yard, part 4: a digression on the new paradigm

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Back to the Garden, front yard series, Garden Design, Gardening, Miscellaneous
5 Comments
...I cast blame around, against myself for being a poor gardener, against the soil, against the drought, against the nursery which sold the plant, against the plant itself. In all cases, though, I’m considering the plant as an isolated individual, and I’m evaluating its success or failure in myopic terms. Now, I’m not a botanist or any other kind of “ist” and I sometimes I suspect all I know about plants would fit in a thimble. Yet I don’t think that...

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Is Lead Poisoning a Risk in Urban Gardens?

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Gardening, Lead
3 Comments
.... But if the results of a University of Washington study on lead and urban agriculture are to be believed, we might not need to be as concerned. The researchers note that most vegetables don’t take up lead and that improving soil with compost greatly reduces the bioavailability of lead. You can read a summary of the results of this research paper here. Thanks to Joanne Poyourow of Environmental Change Makers for tipping me off to this research....

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