It’s about time that I’ve contributed to the blog!
Here in the Salty City, I’ve been working on starting a garden! The garden (a side project for a professor at Weber State University) will be used to conduct experiments on the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, a soil microorganism, on the nutritional quality of plants. This fungi has been shown to maintain the nutritional quality and improve the drought tolerance of plants growing in harsh environments. If the experiments render similar results, a case might be made that the fungi could significantly benefit plants growing in urban areas.
Moving on to the garden itself: I will admit, never have I looked at the ground for so long... and not known where exactly to begin. How do people start with land (thanks Steve) and then end up with a garden? Lo and behold, I’m learning how it’s done. Here are the steps I’ve taken thus far:
1. Find land ✓ 2. Designate area ✓
3. Kill existing vegetation
This can be done by putting a tarp/newspaper over the area and leaving it for several months, or done chemically with a herbicide like RoundUp. I “RoundUp-ed” the area this past weekend, and I’m now waiting for the weeds and grass to clear.
Next steps will be tilling the soil, setting up a deer fence, and building the beds!
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