Soil health, while a year-round focus, will be a major theme for the San Carlos Community Garden (SCCG) this May.
Kicking off May 18, the SCCG will host their monthly educational workshop, entitled Composting for Beginners: Transforming Waste into Garden Gold. The event takes place from 9 – 10:30 a.m. and is led by Garden Coach for Grow a Lil’ Garden Kris Moriarty, who also serves as the director of customer experience for gardening advice organization Epic Gardening.
“We’ll kick things off with a brief introduction to composting, underscoring its significance in sustainable gardening and effective waste management,” Moriarty explained. “We’ll explore the various benefits, such as soil enhancement and the environmental positives of reducing waste through composting.”
For Moriarty, soil health and composting are fundamental to gardening — especially for beginners.
“[…] learning to compost teaches the importance of resourcefulness and sustainability,” she shared. “It’s a practical way to see the value in what is often considered ‘waste’ and to understand the cycle of growth and decay that is part of the natural world.”
Composting methods, such as traditional, tumbling, sheet, bokashi and vermicomposting will additionally be covered during the workshop. Advice on how to apply compost to one’s garden, troubleshoot issues such as odors and pests and composting’s environmental impact will also be addressed.
According to Moriarty, anyone can be successful at gardening and composting. Those interested in gardening and growing healthy, nourishing organic foods can visit her online greenhouse at https://www.epicgardening.com/.
“I am particularly excited to share insights on the diversity of composting methods and their environmental benefits, empowering attendees to start their composting journey, tailored to their space and needs,” Moriarty said. “This workshop is designed not only to educate but also to inspire sustainable practices that participants can integrate into their daily lives.”
SCCG Volunteer James Hyde helps with various areas and plants throughout the garden.
As part of the team for the Food Pantry plot, which donates food goods to Good Shepherd Pantry, Hyde assists in putting together a diverse set of fruits and vegetables to contribute to the local community.
As Hyde explains, plot plants are fluid and change with needs. “We’re integrating cover crops into the annual crop rotation to fill the soil with living roots, which increases the soil biology diversity and increases the soil organic matter, which greatly improves the soil moisture retention and soil nutrient cycling,” Hyde said. “We are seeing some good results so far with soil biology — we now have much more diverse, beneficial bugs in the soil, as opposed to just the one bug that we suspect was eating so much of our seeding roots and plant leaves.”
Soil health is a foundational aspect to fruitful agriculture. As the U.S. Department of Agriculture detailed, healthy soil “reduce[s] erosion, maximize[s] water infiltration, improve[s] nutrient cycling, save[s] money on input and ultimately improve[s] the resiliency of their working land.”
Integrating crop rotation, compost and mulch, avoiding chemical use and much more throughout the garden and Food Pantry plot has helped in “providing a healthy, vibrant soil, the plants are able to access the soil, water and nutrients [needed] to grow those vegetables we’re looking to give back to the community,” Hyde said.
“Having an approach to gardening of ‘feed the soil’ as opposed to ‘feed the plant’ helps all of us focus on the importance of the health of the soil,” explained SCCG Vice Chair Gayle Mills. “The Microsystem that is being created, improved and maintained below the ground is critical to the productivity of plants and it’s exciting to see how our efforts are paying off in the quality and quantity of the harvest.”
Those interested in registering for the workshop and learning more about the SCCG can do so at: https://www.sancarloscommunitygarden.com/.
Editor’s note: SCCG Vice Chair Gayle Mills is related to Jessica Mills.
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