I’m taking a solid soils class at Pasadena City College with Dr. Vendrasco. Let’s start there. My friend Mel previously took this class and I was looking forward to signing up for it. The projects we’ve worked on have been distance projects since Covid has really halted most in-person classes, even some with labs have been impacted.
Dr. Vendrasco put these really sweet soil kits together for us, they’re just so precious. Am I nerd? a soil nerd? maybe, I mean I can aspire to be.
I guess if you start getting into plants, it depends how deep down the wormhole you want to go down. I took an oceanography class during the summer and really felt like the plate tectonics foundation was very useful when understanding origins of soils.
We have so many wonderful landscapes in the US and it’s nice to learn about some that may be a few states away but with a very different soil structure than what we’re used to in Southern California.
OK, so I signed up for a soils class – it was recommended by a friend and I’m in week 2 and I love it. If you have time next year around this time to take it, do it! The professor is kind and nurturing – which to be honest, has been my experience with all of my professors at Pasadena City College. I’m taking this class to learn how to heal some of the damage we have impacted on our urban soils, and to see how to maximize yields in a natural way that doesn’t add chemicals to the process. Here is cool video to watch and learn about cover crops.
Hey folks! It’s been a busy few weeks and with news that we will have to hunker down a little longer, I wanted to put together some quick tips for starting a small garden with kids. Feel free to click through the slides and videos and feel inspired!
Over the last few months, I’ve been composting at Micheltorena Elementary. I work as a school garden ranger, and people drop off compost. I turn the pile, get the kids involved and discuss nitrogen and carbon balance.
The hardest thing to accept has been, why won’t the school compost? I’ve been looking at the lunch menu and although not all the items can be broken down, some can be.
I often teach kids about growing our own food, permaculture, sustainability and zero-waste but all of that is pointless is we don’t teach by doing.
As of last week, I’ve been able to work hand-in-hand with the principal at this school to establish a small, 5-gallon compost bucket. Disclaimer, I work for Enrich LA, and this is an initiative for us as employees. My challenge isn’t the support, believe me I have it, but I need to figure out ways to get other people truly excited and engaged in this next endeavor.
I’m attaching a file, with my plans on what I intend to do, and what has been implemented – in hopes that it will inspire you or inspire others to take the leap and compost at your neighborhood school.
We are in the implementation phase, so far we’ve collected a few pounds of organic waste. We’ve added it to the pile and used the paper plates (non-waxed) to balance the nitrogen and carbon.
I’ve included some pictures here, but the value is in the plan. Please credit me if you’d like to use it.
Signage from Enrich LA
current trash situation
without education, we end up with perfectly good food in the waste system and plastic in compost
One of the reasons we love our yard so much is that we can have pets, have a garden but also entertain our kid. While many complain about too much time online or watching TV, we’re happy we get to open the door and tell our kid to play with dirt. My job is also working with kids, working with EnrichLA and local elementary schools to teach, but lately I feel like I’ve been learning so much.
The kids I teach are young this time around, and the lessons aren’t really landing well, partially because definitions of soil are boring and the age of the kids. I often use my 2 year old as I test the lessons. If it doesn’t land well with a toddler, it’s not going to land well with a 4-5 year old who has a mind of their own.
I like to explain things to kids the way I would explain them to adults, meaning that I don’t want to dumb down a lesson thinking that children can’t understand, because they can. The definitions didn’t land, but the applied part did. We were able to play with soil, get the kids handling the dirt – and we even found a friend. We were able to go from basic soil composition to discussing soil as a habitat and ecosystem for critters.
This was one of my most challenging lessons, I will do things slightly different next time – perhaps have different types of soil on hand and match plants to the soil. Til next time.
Finally my mandarins are here! Rejoice! Why am I so happy? First, these are so easy to peel and the fruit is just so sweet. My variety has seeds and so I tend to be careful when giving them to kids, but the seeds are small and sometimes soft, so I don’t worry too much.
Last year my harvest was appalling, there was enough fruit for the squirrels and maybe a remnant for me. This year, I vowed to take a more active interest in my trees – meaning, increase the amount of time I spent caring for them. Refer to my guava post.
My mandarin tree is located on the east side of our property and there is a little too much shade on the south side/east side corner. I cut down some problematic bamboo trees (more on this later) and am still working to cut through the root system of the bamboo for two reasons: 1. provide shade 2. provide space for the mandarin roots to grow. The sun did wonders for the mandarin, and I increased the water ritual, now I do a deep watering once every 2 months on a low trickle, ensuring that the slow trickle gets to the deep root system instead of running off.
I also identified this tree as a mandarin and have been going back and forth regarding the tangerine/mandarin naming convention – find out more about this lovely citrus tree by clicking here and reading this pdf from the yuma county coop extension.
We have two guava trees in the backyard, one is a white/pink guava and the other one a pineapple guava. I was ready to throw in the towel and cut down the guava tree last year, since it didn’t produce any fruits.
This is one of the few times I decided to go against my gut feeling and try to be logical about it. This tree looked like it had been in my backyard for years, and it was a disappointment that it didn’t provide any fruit. So I changed my attitude about it and made some observations and changes.
Sunlight
There is a large hedge that sits between our yard (on our property), a mandarin tree crowding the guava, and a large navel orange tree blocking out light. I trimmed back what I could manage, and had some landscape guys come in with some industrial sized ladders to handle the rest.
Water
Yes, it’s obvious, more water. But it wasn’t obvious to me. I was watering my trees every few months, with superficial waterings in between. I increased watering this tree to every 2-3 months. This seemed to get the leaves to change their shape, from a curved and withered look so the leaves opening up some more. In 2019, I will probably do a longer, deeper watering once a month with a slower trickle of water.
Fertilizer/Mulch
This was possibly the largest heavy lift of the project. I started by mulching a circle around the tree. I pulled up all grass around the tree, any invasive roots or other plants that could have been crowding this plant. I provided this plant with Dr. Earth’s fruit fertilizer, it truly is my go-to for a few of my trees. In the next year, I will more than likely cut back on this fertilizer and just try to get my soil health to a better place, by using some horse manure and letting it cure before I apply it. I will also add in more compost and perhaps some worm juice to help it.
I’ve never tasted anything as beautiful, delicate and exotic as a pineapple guava, and I really can’t wait to continue to nurse this tree until it can provide enough fruit for me, the squirrels and birds – who knows, one day I may actually have enough fruit to share with neighbors and friends.
Ok, so when I first started playing with dirt I made a lot of mistakes in terms of planting, transplanting and overall buying the wrong seeds at the wrong time.
I started making gardening friends (no joke) old folks, young folks, hippie folks and they had the same general wisdom – “Try it and see what happens…”
After failing and failing some more I decided to start learning more about my general climate, soil conditions and what types of seeds would sprout when.
Don’t worry, I’ll keep updating these links as I find more. There are so many out there. I live in Los Angeles and I believe I’m in zone 10. My last frost is February 15, meaning anything I planted before then really didn’t have a fighting chance. Once I got to that point, I waited until past last frost, planted corn and some sage and it’s doing well.
