Feed Your Soil: Edible Gardening Workshop Series Continues

Summer is in full swing in the Kootenays and gardens are growing taller every day.   Have you ever wondered what garden plants are eating to fuel that growth? The next Edible Gardening series workshop, running July 15th in Kimberley and July 16th in Cranbrook, looks at soil and all the ways it feeds the plants that we eat. Feed Your Soil, the second workshop in the series from Wildsight and the Cranbrook Food Action Committee, will give gardeners a ground-up tour of their soil and help them feed the growth by creating healthy soil.

“There is compelling evidence that high-quality, balanced soil leads to more nutrient-dense food - something most gardeners are striving for,” said Wildsight’s Jessica Windle, “and there’s no doubt that veggies grown in healthy soil taste better.”

The one and a half hour workshops will cover soil composition and nutrition. Starting from the basics of soil chemistry and plant needs, the workshops will cover feeding your soil in detail, including which soil amendments to use, where to get them, and when to apply them. The workshops will also cover how to test soils and how to interpret soil test results, plus other signs of soil health to look for, so that gardeners can do check-ups of their own soil and make a tailored plan for great soil health.
“It’s all about feeding the soil which leads to happy plants; that’s really the heart of the organic fertilizer philosophy. Happy plants are strong and healthy plants with higher resistance to disease, pests, and extreme weather,” said CFAC’s Shannon Duncan.

Gardeners will leave the workshops ready to get to work with information on local sources of soil amendments and on local contamination hazards to watch out for.
“We’ll also cover some mid-season plant maintenance tips, like pruning and staking tomatoes,” said Windle, “and if you don’t have a garden yet or want to expand, it’s not too late, so we’ll be sharing some tips for starting seeds to enjoy a fall harvest.”

The workshops run from 6:30-8pm on July 15th in Kimberley at Wildsight’s Open Gate Garden on Rotary Drive and in Cranbrook on July 16th from 6:30-8pm at CFAC’s Public Produce Garden on 18th Avenue North between 6th and 8th Streets. The workshop cost is $10 with a work trade option available. Registration is online at Wildsight.ca/Garden or by calling 250 427 2535 x 223.

The Feed Your Soil workshop is the second in a three part series giving local gardeners a tour of the local growing season. Extending the Harvest, the final workshop in the series, will follow in the fall with tips and techniques to keep harvesting fresh food into the early winter.