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No-Till Gardening: Retire your Rototiller and Cherish your Dirt
March 21 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Do you want a garden that truly thrives? Come to the No-Till Vegetable Gardening workshop on Tuesday, March 21st from 7 – 9 pm at Newburgh Community Hall.
The event is hosted by the Lennox and Addington Stewardship Council: a non-profit organization working with schools, community/environmental interest groups, and landowners to grow sustainable practices and provide community education.
Justin Schaude and Molly Touzel of Red School Farmstead in Desmond (near Yarker) along with Andrew Michalski of St. Isidore Farm in Yarker will present this down-to-earth workshop.
Soil is the most neglected of the major ecosystems according to the journalist and author, George Monbiot. Understanding the richness and complexity of soil might inspire us to stop treating it like dirt.
Under one square metre of undisturbed ground in much of the Earth’s mid-latitudes there might be several hundred thousand small insects/animals. Rather astoundingly, one single gram of soil typically contains around one kilometre of fungal filaments.
Tilling the soil actually results in soil compaction; it disrupts the complex symbiotic relationship that exists between the surface of the soil and the underlying micro-organisms. “No-Till” Gardening is the practice of avoiding the intentional disruption of the soil.
“No till” doesn’t mean “No work.” Regular top dressing of an established bed with mulch and compost in layers will enrich the soil matrix and build in resilience without the need of additional fertilizers. Compost and mulch become the gardener’s new allies.
The many advantages of the “no-till” method include saving water, reducing and possibly eliminating the need to weed, retaining carbon in the soil, reducing soil erosion and building up the earthworm population in your garden. All are great reasons to Cherish your Dirt!
The Hall is at 2 Factory St. in Newburgh. Doors open at 6:30 and refreshments will be served. For more information, contact lastewardship@gmail.com or visit www.lastewardship.ca
To submit your public events for consideration, email Noah Cole at noahc@ontarionature.org. Please send well in advance and allow up to two weeks for posting. Events must be submitted by a member group or run jointly with Ontario Nature.