An Introduction to Soil In Albuquerque Photo by Gabriel Jimenez If you are planning a new landscape element in your yard, a garden, or maybe even starting a small farm, the first thing you must consider is the soil. Soil is the conglomerate of organic matter, sand, silt, clay, and rock that makes up the uppermost layer of earth where plants can grow. You can omit any one of these, except organic matter, and still Read more…
Building a Better World One (Winter) Garden at a Time The arrival of autumn induces the deep-rooted need for hibernation, albeit in the most human of ways. Our cravings for salads and panini suddenly seep away, replaced with a longing for roasted squash and green chile stew or whatever late summer harvest your youth was filled with. For gardeners Autumn brings with it the joy of harvest and the optimistic planning of what’s to come; Read more…
Prepare and Repair your Garden this Fall There is an odd psychological effect that comes with Labor Day. The kids are in school, the county and state fairs are popping up across the nation, harvest celebration invites have been sent out. All of this despite the three full weeks of summer left. But we know it: the arrival of Labor Day is the unofficial departure of summer. It is also the perfect time to start Read more…
In Celebration of Regeneration It used to be that, here in New Mexico, the approach of autumn was signaled by the smell of green chile roasting in on the sidewalks and storefronts from the valley to the heights. The last few years a change has been unleashed. In early August, before the sounds of back-to-school traffic are highlighted by the crackle of green chile skin, we now know the impending end of summer is near Read more…
If you did not know, August is National Water Quality month. As New Mexicans we are all acutely aware of the importance of water, but we are not immune to the blissful ignorance of water quality issues that impact our local environment, at least not until there is some major event the headlines to draw our attention. In 2015 the Gold King Mine spill into the Animas River caused incalculable environmental damage to Navajo Nation Read more…
The Mystery of ‘Black Gold’ What is compost anyway? Simply enough, compost is decomposed organic matter. It can come from anything: leaves, pine needles, trees, food scraps, paper products, manure…anything that was once alive. It may look like dirt, but it’s anything but. Compost is the result of the natural breakdown of matter to its basic chemical state. But compost doesn’t just happen with a pile of waste and a wish. The big pile of Read more…
Our Newest Soilution…Coco Coir! Soilutions, Inc. is pleased to introduce the newest addition to our family of soils and amendments: Coco Coir. Over the last decade coco coir has made its way into the hearts and minds of growers, gardeners and propagators in the United States (not to mention into the bags of potting soil on the racks of garden centers). Now we are joining the party, in the most Soilutions of ways. Bulk coco Read more…
Why Not Give Organic Mulches a Try? It seems that there are as many landscapes featuring aggregate as there were 20 years ago. Gravel continues to proliferate through our landscapes, despite the overwhelming evidence that graveled landscapes slowly kill trees and increase home cooling costs. There are alternatives to the gravel landscape and I hope that this post will ease the concerns people have about exploring them. When people realized that water was a limited resource Read more…
You Can’t Buy a Perfect Soil Each spring we receive a steady stream of customers asking the same thing, “Can you sell me something to plant in that’s ready to go for my raised vegetable garden?” Well, yes we can sell you something. Is it perfectly ready to go? Not so much. As with all things related to gardening, it’s going to require a bit of understanding and input from you. Here are the points Read more…
Thank You EPA Once a month I add up how much foodwaste we’ve intercepted from local Albuquerque businesses for our compost heaps and translate that into greenhouse gas emissions savings. I use tools provided by the EPA to do this. The WARM (Waste Reduction Model) calculator converts tons of foodwaste composted into Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent, allowing us to put a number to the quantity of greenhouse gas that we have prevented from Read more…