Composting - Fine Gardening
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How-To
The Science of Garden Soil Health: What You Need to Know to Keep Your Garden Growing
Beneath our feet lies a vibrant yet under-appreciated ecosystem. Far more complex than mere dirt, soil is a matrix of mineral particles, organic matter, living organisms, water, and air. Scientists…
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How-To
Tips for Upcycling Garden Trash into Useful Tools
Winning tip: Another life for old hose carts I had two rusted-out hose carts. I disassembled them and realized they could be repurposed. After I painted them with Rustoleum, I zip-tied…
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Design
Garden Tour of a Sustainable Native Plant Oasis Bursting with Fall Color
When Jeff Lorenz and Kayla Fell purchased this property in the Philadelphia suburbs, they knew they had their work cut out for them. A front and back yard of mostly…
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Design
Why to Stop Tilling and Grow Your Garden Like a Prairie
In graduate school my research involved comparing the health of soils in remnant native tallgrass prairies to adjacent farmlands. One of the lessons I learned is that we’d all be…
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How-To
3 Ways Fallen Leaves Can Improve Your Garden
Green leaves are the energy engines that fuel our gardens. Without them there would be no flowers, no sugars for summer tomatoes, and no cooling or oxygenating the air while…
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How-To
How to Use Compost in the Garden to Combat Intense Heat and Drought
There is no way to sugarcoat the challenges many of us in the Mid-Atlantic region have faced this summer. The inconsistency of rainfall and the extreme high temperatures have greatly…
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How-To
Setting Up a Three-Bin Compost System
The value of having compost available for use in the home garden is immeasurable, and the convenience of creating that compost on-site for instant availability adds to the reward. Of…
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How-To
Pine Needles, Oak Leaves, and Soil Acidity: What Does the Research Say?
In a recent Healthy Garden article, Paula Gross mentions research indicating that mulches of oak leaves and pine needles do not acidify the soil. In view of the tendencies of…
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How-To
4 Ways to Get More Compost
My grandmother taught me that you cannot just take from a garden; you must always give back and care for the soil. This is a lesson I apply to any…
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How-To
Healthy Soil Is at the Heart of a Thriving Garden
Soil is a complex structure made up of mineral solids and organic matter interwoven with aggregates and open pore spaces. The open spaces between soil particles are just as important…