Grow twice the fruits and vegetables in half the space when you turn your soil into black gold.
Grow twice the fruits and vegetables in half the space when you turn your soil into black gold.
Have you noticed the extraordinary flavors and yields that come from even a small garden when the soil is just right? If you’ve ever been envious of your neighbor’s dirt or just curious about homesteading, then this course is the perfect fit for you.
Both raw beginners and gardeners who already boast a green thumb will benefit from this course's focus on hands-on techniques used to boost the quality of your soil on the small scale. Contents include:
Compost - why and how to buy or make and use the very best, including compost worms and black soldier flies
No-till organic gardening - keep the fertility cycling in your soil with chemical-free, no-till techniques likes solarization and kill mulches
Biochar - learn when charcoal boosts your soil and when it's a fairy tale as well as how to turn waste wood ashes into biochar
Hugelkultur - use rotting wood for long-term soil improvement to please fungally-associated plants
Cover crops - grow easy ground covers that build soil, attract pollinators, lower weeding pressure, and much more
Each video tells the how as well as the why to help you follow along easily at home. In addition, printable fact sheets can come with you into the garden as a quick reminder of each step.
This course is brought to you by Anna Hess, author of The Weekend Homesteader and The Ultimate Guide to Soil. Based on 15 years of fruit and vegetable gardening in harmony with the natural environment, her books and courses take the guesswork out of beyond-organic and permaculture techniques.
This course is all about growing black gold, turning so-so soil into excellent soil.
Walden Effect is a husband-and-wife team who have been homesteading since 2006. Anna Hess is the data nerd and author whose books help homesteaders and homesteaders-to-be find ways to achieve their dreams. Mark Hamilton is the outside-the-box thinker and DIY master who invented the Avian Aqua Miser, bringing clean water to tens of thousands of backyard flocks.
Compost can be the only trick you need up your soil-improvement sleeve, but it does have some downsides.
Past and present compost systems have included chickens, black soldier fly larvae, and worms.
Topdressing involves adding compost around existing plants.
Why you might choose to till or go no-til.
A hands-on overview of planting into a no-till garden.
Kill mulches use cardboard to block light to unruly weeds, killing them with little effort on your part.
Clear plastic can kill problem weeds in a hot summer garden.
Test your knowledge with this short quiz.
When biochar is and isn't a benefit to gardens.
Using a homemade sifter and a worm bin to create biochar out of wood ashes.
Burying rotting wood boosts soil organic matter in the long term and promotes fungal dominance.
Cover crops are plants you grow for the primary purpose of improving the soil, but they can have secondary uses.
Buckwheat is a fast and easy summer cover crop that most U.S. gardeners can put to use in their plots.
There are four main options for killing cover crops.
A rundown on two winter-kill cover crops and one mow-kill cover crop.
Cover crop seeds are usually cheapest locally but can also be bought online.
A parting message --- pick one soil-building technique and give it a try.
I hope you enjoy this sneak peek into our newest course, DIY Gardening Projects.
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