Pathogen-Reducing Compost

January 14, 2020 © 2020 Benefits of compost are widely known: 1) enhances water holding capacity, soil structure, organic matter, drainage, and nutrient holding capacity of soil, 2) provides a source of beneficial microbes, 3) decreases both inputs (to your garden) and outputs (from your garden), a plus for sustainability, and, 4) reduces fertilizer and […]

Your Hori-Hori Could be Harboring Clubroot

November 26,  2019 © 2020   I meet weekly with the DirtLife group at Sound Bio Lab. Other members are scientists who are also interested in soil. We are designing a community-based science project so we surveyed the Seattle P-Patch gardeners, via their listserve. Fifty responded. Gardeners are interested in microbial diversity, effective composting and […]

Plant Pathogens – Pasteurize? Sterilize? Sanitize? Boil Everything!

March 26, 2019 Recently, I was watching someone rinse a plastic polyethylene plant-potting container in a bleach solution for reuse. I was pretty sure that pot needed to be thoroughly rinsed of organic matter prior to the bleach rinse. The observation made me think of several reasons why a gardener needs to know how kill […]