Learn gardening tips from Lauren Fieberg

Legumes are nitrogen fixing via nodules on their roots. This is a good way to get nitrogen into your garden without using fertilizers.

It’s a good idea to insulate your planting beds with a layer of organic material like straw or even coffee bean husks.

Visit the garden to see the cool season vegetables in full production–kale, chard, peas, cabbages, broccoli, arugula…these will soon be harvested and the next planting season will begin. Then it’s the time to plant warm season vegetables: Tomatoes, basil, beans, corn, squash, sweet potatoes.

You can do two tests to find out what the balance of sand, clay and silt are in your soil. One is a water test where you put soil in a glass container, fill with water and let it set. When the particle settle the sand will be on the bottom and the lighter soils and organic material will be on top. There is also the ribbon test which Lauren is doing in this picture. Take a small clump of soil and work it in your fingers. If it is cohesive enough to form a ribbon it is high in clay. If it crumbles it is high in sand.