Make Your Soil The Best It Can Be!
All gardening starts with soil - MAKE IT THE BEST THAT IT CAN BE!! Here in central Virginia we are blessed with soil that at best can be considered heavy clay. Learn how to convert this raw material into productive garden loam that is the envy of all your gardening friends. Join us for this informative program that will give your garden a firm foundation that will continue to support your gardening efforts for years to come.
SOIL is ALIVE! A healthy soil is teaming with billions of organisms. They work together to provide an interrelated ecosystem that is critical to the health and productivity of our garden. Our soil is one of the most critical factors determining the quality and yield of our garden, yet it is mostly overlooked. As gardeners, we are all too often inclined to blame weather, insects or diseases as the reason our crops are not thriving. We fail to see that our plants are predisposed to these problems because they are suffering in a soil that is not capable of supplying the necessary enviroment to keep the plants healthy and productive.
VERMICULTURE: Worm castings
are used by many large organic farms as a valuable source of nutrients.They are an essential element in soil structure and as a soil conditioner. Soil with an abundant worm population represents a healthy soil with ample organic matter. Worm castings are the end result of this worm population tunneling through your soil. They break it down and digest it, leaving behind a wealth of organic and inorganic nutrients available to support your plants. Learn how to encourage this critical process in your garden. Also learn how to make your own worm composter and use the resulting worm castings as a soil amendment. As part of the program the instructors will help you make your own vermiculture bin (all materials provided) to take home and start your own worm casting factory.
COMPOSTING is both an art and a science. Compost added to your garden soil gives a boost to your soil flora and fauna and helps keep this essential ecosystem in balance. A well balanced 
soil ecosystem keeps your plants healthy and better able to resist attacks by insects and diseases.
Good composting techniques go beyond just letting things decompose - because that takes too much time! To produce high quality compost in the shortest time, it is important for you to observe the composting rules. Plenty of air, moisture and the correct ratio of components are required to minimize the time it takes and maximize your compost production. Join us for this Soil Conditioning Workshop and learn the correct ways to produce plenty of high quality compost that will help make your garden soil healthy and productive.
We will discuss the composting rules and ratios as well as the pro's and con's of various composting techniques and structures. At Shalom Farms we will see different techniques employed to supply this organic farm with it's compost requirements.
Shalom farms will host this workshop. Shalom is an organic farm in western Goochland. Last year it produced over 65,000 pounds of food on less then 5 acres for "food deserts" in Richmond. Farm Manager Stephen Miles is considered one of Virginia's best young farmers and he will lead the soil conditioning discussion. He is a strong proponent of soil health and will inspire everyone to make their soil the best it can be.
GREEN MANURES & COVER CROPS, are another tool that will make a enormous difference in our soil health. See this practice at work at Shalom. Steve practices crop rotation, cover cropping, green manures and fallow cropping in order to maximize his soil productivity. As you will see, the results are impressive. Join us for this informative workshop. Tour Shalom Farms, talk with Steve and see how maximizing your soil health can make all the difference in your garden's output. 
well