When it was discovered that nitrogen was the most important ingredient for both explosives and fertilizer, our military industrial complex and food production became dependent on vast stockpiles of synthetic chemicals. Many of the original chemical pioneers who built weapons factories found an easy shift from making bombs to making agricultural products and also … [Read more...]
Local Native Wildlife: Pigeons, Squirrels, and Blackbirds, Oh My!
As a longtime promoter of local native wildlife, I have always been intrigued by native animals adapting to the urban environments of Salt Lake City. Native deer, doves, and ducks all do well and whole herds of mule deer now live well within city limits. Many mourning doves now raise their young in our neighborhoods and no longer migrate south as they had done for millennia. … [Read more...]
Three Nontraditional Home Gardens in Salt Lake City
Sugar House Joakim Orton moved into his Sugarhouse apartment in 2016, and since then he’s been cultivating a garden in an unlikely spot. Even though traditional gardening space is limited around his apartment building, he got creative and chose to utilize a long, thin strip of earth that lines the driveway—a spot most others would overlook. Before he began cul … [Read more...]
Hosta House: Filling His Yard with Hostas Led to a Home-Based Business
Burton Johnson describes Hosta House as “a shady business”. But unlike other shady operations, which require stealth and evasive practices to elude the authorities, this shady business is actually legal. Johnson grows and sells ornamental shade plants called hostas. Johnson then suggests we visit a garden he created for his neighbor Spencer F. Eccles. He says we can see that … [Read more...]
Wasps Can Be Wonderful
Everyone knows that honeybees are good for your garden. They are natural pollinators and all around good guys. But what about the other flying, buzzing garden visitors; wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets? Are they pests? If you have a garden, you might be surprised at the answer. Wasps get a bad rap. They can be persistent when they want to join your backyard BBQ, and they … [Read more...]
The World Beneath Our Feet: Organic Soil Supports a Rich Mix of Life
What do you see when you look at garden soil? If you simply see dirt, you may be surprised to learn that a single tablespoon of healthy soil contains more microorganisms than there are people on the planet. It’s true! A small handful of soil contains billions of bacteria, several yards of fungal filament, thousands of protozoa, and many nematodes—the smallest and most abundant a … [Read more...]
Liqui-Dirt: Grow Good Soil to Grow Good Crops
Most farmers in Utah have heard the old-fashioned term “dirt farmer”—it harkens back to the Great Depression when the plains lost most of their top soil, the greatest asset of any farmer. But Cory Sackett is, literally, a dirt farmer. The best word to describe Sackett is passionate. And not just about his product, but about saving the world, one garden at a time. After yea … [Read more...]
How to Dramatically Improve Your Garden Soil with Inexpensive Cover Crops
“Let it be known, I am a fairly lazy gardener,” says Geneva Lawrence, long-time Sugar House horticulturist, of her extensive backyard filled with five raised beds, grape and berry vines, fruit trees, beehives and a gaggle of happy hens. “One reason I use cover crops is because it’s an easy way to feed the dirt. Sow, water, leave alone.” This relatively hands-off approach yiel … [Read more...]
Foraging Wild Spring Foods
Most readers of Utah Stories might recognize my name as an author of mostly gardening-oriented articles. Although I have been passionate about foraging since I was a teenager, I taught my first class through the West High Community Education program in the fall of 2011 with only 12 students in attendance. As the years passed, the number of students continued to climb, … [Read more...]
DIY Greenhouses: Get a Go on your Gardening
I have designed, built and managed a variety of different greenhouses over the past 40 years. All of them have been primarily intended for starting hundreds of transplants for many varieties of vegetables for our garden and many others. My wife and I have never actually used a greenhouse for growing food. Obviously, some folk do, although that would be more aligned to … [Read more...]