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Learning about soil zones (video)

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Most of us are familiar with climate zones, but soil zones, too?

Of course, I was aware of different soil types in different regions. I just didn’t know there were names and classifications for them.

Gardening in Canada just did a video all about soil zones, and I learned so much!

Well, things make a lot more sense, now!

In the past, I’ve described where we live as being in that transition zone between Boreal forest and prairie. It turns out that zone is known as the Dark Grey soil zone.

I’ve also written about testing our soil. You can read about how those went, here, here and here.

This is a picture from one of those soil tests. Blue cap is phosphorous, purple cap is nitrogen and orange cap is potash. The only bright colour is the dark green pH test, showing we have very alkaline soil. The test colour strip only went to 7.5, and the samples were all darker than the colour strip got! Even our direct soil pH meter only goes up to a pH of 8, and I think our soil is probably at least a pH of 9 or even 10.

Besides being in a Dark Grey soil zone, we are also sitting on top of where the ancient glacial Lake Agassiz one was. When the lake drained, it was with incredible speed, and is believed to have extended the last ice age. Which means the water also took a lot of the lighter sediment from the lake bottom, with it, leaving behind the heavy stuff.

Like rocks, gravel, sand and clay.

Dark Grey soil zones have a problem with leaching. Basically, any time we have rain, the soil nutrients get leached down through the sandier layers below. Our region has more sand and gravel, than others. That means we’d have nutrients leaching out of our soil, even faster. Also, the leached nutrients would normally form a dense, compact lower layer. I don’t know where that layer would be forming in our area. Even when heavy equipment was used to deepen our gravel pit, as well as a dugout in the other quarter section that’s rented out, there’s just gravel and sand and clay.

When my mother had her huge garden here, my dad would plow cow manure into it almost every fall. That hasn’t been done in over 20 years. However, gardening did continue. Even after my parents could no longer garden, a couple of my brothers and their wives kept up small areas. The old garden area did still get plowed in the fall.

Plowed, but not amended. Among the things that disappeared from here over the years was the old manure pile from behind the barn. In fact, there are now dips on the ground where the pile used to be, so whoever took it, dug down pretty deep.

Yeah. Someone stole the manure pile.

I’m pretty sure I know who, but no matter.

So our soil conditions are as poor as they are due to both the lack of amendments, and our geology.

We’re not in a position to buy truckloads of manure and getting it all plowed into the area. Which means our plans to use raised beds of varying heights, modified hügelkultur style, is going to make all the difference in the world.

Thank you, GIC, for putting out this video! This information is going to be very useful in helping us plan things out.

The Re-Farmer

Is growing your own food affordable? (Videos)

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I just had to share this really interesting video from Huw Richards.

Richards is based in the UK, and he’s in a wildly different growing climate than we are, but some things are pretty universal.

Richards set himself the goal of growing enough food to feed a household of four in a small space, and kept track of everything, including the costs, then comparing to what it would cost to buy that food (he does include what the costs are in US$ and Euros). Of course, his costs and availability would be different than were we are, but the same methodology can be used anywhere.

For our situation, we have the luxury of space, which is good because we also need to take into account accessibility in our planning. His narrow paths between beds, for example, are not something we can get away with. We also need to have higher raised beds, again for accessibility and mobility reasons. To a certain extent, we are also able to scavenge materials around the farm, whether it’s felling dead trees and using the logs to build the raised beds, or scrounging for lumber and tools in the barn and various sheds, we should be able to get away with spending less. Our plans will – eventually – incorporate animals to help improve and amend our soil. We were supposed to at least have a few chickens, a couple of years ago, and that just didn’t happen. It’s a goal that has been shifted to this year but, the way things tend to derail our plans, I’m just hoping we can at least get started on building a chicken coop, so we can get chicks next year!

This next video on self sufficiency is also really useful.

He’s a real wealth of information!

The Re-Farmer

Seeds to start in March

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What better thing to do when winter is asserting itself, is watch gardening videos?

Gardening in Canada has put out another excellent video for us short-season gardeners. Here, she talks about the seeds we should start now, or can get away with starting now if we do it right, and which she would advise against starting until April.

I believe she lives a bit further North that we do, but her last frost date is earlier than mine, so she can actually start seeds about a week two earlier than me.

I appreciate that she says that no one knows your garden in your area better than you, and to take that into account when deciding what to start. Everyone has their different soil conditions, microclimates and other factors that will affect how things grow – and what will grow at all! I also like that she recommends new gardeners take advantage of the wealth of knowledge among people in the comments section. You’re bound to find someone living in your part of the world that can answer them far better than she can, living where she does.

I suspect I’m going to be sharing her videos here regularly over the next while!

The Re-Farmer

Wise Words

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Sometimes, I tease myself, watching gardening or homesteading videos by people who live in wildly different climates than I do. The things they can grow, when we’re still months away from being able to plant even cold hardy crops leave me pining!

Of course, there is always something to learn, even if much of the other stuff doesn’t apply to us.

Homestead Heart is one of these video channels that I find inspiring and informative. Some things apply, no matter where you live or what your growing season is like! This is one of them.

She makes some awesome points. When things were shutting down and grocery stores were empty, it really shook people up. So many people started talking about growing their own food, or stocking up seeds for the next time something goes wrong, and the stores are empty again. As much as I absolutely support people doing this, it was rather dismaying to see so many people excitedly sharing “how to” videos produced by content mills that were absolutely fake. At best, the information was useless. At worse, it was dangerous.

So if you’re among those looking into growing your own food, now or in the future, this is someone who tells it like it is, flat out, with no holds barred. She’s awesome!

The Re-Farmer

Raised bed considerations

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For us, building our raised beds is a matter of using what materials we can get without having to buy anything. We’re scrounging and salvaging whatever we can.

If, however, you are in a position to actually purchase raised beds, there are a lot of options, kits and companies out there to choose from.

Gardening in Canada covers some of the things to think about – and a few things I didn’t think about at all, since they’re pretty irrelevant to our situation. This video is well worth a watch.

After we’ve built more of our raised beds, I think I might do a video about them. Everyone has their own very individual situations to consider. Perhaps it might be useful to people if I go through my thought processes as to why we made the choices we did, and apply that process to their own situation.

What do you think? Should I make such a video?

The Re-Farmer

Why use seed starting mix?

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This is the time of year many are starting their seeds indoors, and there are many growing mediums available. Some swear by ordinary garden soil, straight compost or the compressed pellets of peat or coconut coir – though I hear many in my local gardening groups with a definite hate on for the pellets!! Then there’s potting soil and seed starting mixes.

What to choose? Let a soil scientist explain!

I currently have two different brands of seed starting mix, because those were the ones available at the time I was there to buy them. So far, I don’t see any difference between them.

Into the light

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Another gardening video from Gardening in Canada, about whether you need light to start seeds or not.

Considering the differences between our big aquarium greenhouse and the little one, light is definitely an issue. Unfortunately, we’re not in a position to invest in lights – especially not full spectrum lights or red grow lights – right now. The bright LED shop lights I was able to get at Costco, however, do seem to be helping a lot, once the trays move out of the aquarium greenhouses.

The Re-Farmer

G.I.C. video: seeds to start in February

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When it comes to deciding what seeds to start indoors, and when, your frost dates are more important than your zone. Gardening in Canada talks about what to start now, whatever zone you are in.

We’ve got our onions,shallots, eggplants and hot peppers started (even though the hot peppers are supposed to be a short season variety). Next up, I have herbs to start.

We don’t have luffa seeds to try this year; I will buy more to try again next year. I’m debating whether I want to try any gourds this year. I’m not sure how many beds we will have access to this year. I think I should skip them this year and focus more of the edibles than things I am growing for crafting purposes.

What about you? If you have a garden, what are you trying – or skipping – this year?

The Re-Farmer

A good one for beginner gardeners

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Here’s another great video from Gardening in Canada. With so many people looking to garden to feed themselves, because grocery prices are getting so high, it helps to know what’s actually cheaper to grow!

There are, of course, always outliers. With the dry beans, for example. It may be cheaper to buy them at the store, but you can grow varieties that you won’t find in stores at all. Similar for things like potatoes, which don’t even make her list. For example, there’s not much point growing your basic white, red, or yellow potatoes that are common in stores. For the space they need, you could grow other more cost-effective vegetables instead. But there are many varieties of potatoes you’ll never see in a grocery store, or if you do, they are much more expensive “gourmet” items.

But then, a novice gardener looking to save on the grocery budget probably wouldn’t be after special varieties. That’s the time to focus on tried and true varieties that will grow in their area, not experiment. We are fortunate to have lots of space to convert into garden beds. Most people don’t have that.

I still say it’s good to grow at least one thing, just for fun!

The Re-Farmer