Department
Soil
Cover cropping a 25-by-40 plot, no-till in clay, leaf mold as a slow fertilizer, soil tests every three years.
Wood Ash from the Stove into the Garden
Eloise Vinter weighs the case for and against putting wood-stove ash on a Norwich kitchen garden, and arrives at a careful, smaller answer than most gardeners want.
The Quiet Case for Mulching with Straw
Rowena Bell makes a deliberate, undecorated argument for straw mulch in the home kitchen garden, after twenty-eight years of testing every other option.
The Earthworm as a Soil Indicator
Octavia Bryne explains what a count of earthworms in a forkful of garden soil actually tells the home gardener, and what it does not.
Compost Tea and What It Actually Does
Tristan Aoki tests the claims for actively aerated compost tea on a Kyoto vegetable plot over two growing seasons, and reports what he observed.
A Three-Year Soil-Test Rhythm for the Home Gardener
Octavia Bryne lays out a simple cycle of soil sampling for a small kitchen garden, with notes on what to test, when, and how to read the results without overreacting.
Leaf Mold as a Slow Fertilizer
Eloise Vinter has been making leaf mold in Norwich since 2009. She keeps three bays, turns nothing, and waits two years for each batch.
No-Till in Heavy Clay Soil
Sage Marchetti spent eight years converting a Northampton kitchen garden from double-dug beds to undisturbed clay. The first three years were the hardest.
Cover Cropping a 25-by-40 Plot in Autumn
Rowena Bell sows winter rye and crimson clover into a tired Devon kitchen garden, and waits seven months for the soil to answer.