LAC LA BICHE – With the gardening season getting underway, on May 15, a group of residents from the Lac La Biche area were given an education on enhancing soil so their plants can effectively absorb nutrients and grow better.
The soil amendment workshop was put by Lac La Biche Environmental Services and was held at McArthur Place on Thursday evening.
Judy Walker, a gardening enthusiast who is originally from Terrace, B.C., but who now calls Lac La Biche County home, was the host and spoke at the event. Those who attended the workshop were also given small plants and containers to take home with them.
During her presentation, Walker discussed organic soil amendments, as well as how gardeners can tell when these adjustments may be needed.
“If you want to have beautiful produce, you are going to have to amend the soil and make sure that it is very healthy, full of microorganisms and creatures that are healthy to the soil in order to produce something that’s going to taste good, and is going to be healthy,” Walker said.
As far as how gardeners can know when it is time to adjust their soil, Walker explained that if people have gardened in the past and things aren’t going so well, they will know something needs to be done.
There are simple adjustments that can be made, according to Walker, including soil compaction. Using an example, Walker talked about wire flags, the type used for marking pipelines, which gardeners can also make use of to test their soil.
“You poke that in the ground, and if it doesn’t want to go in, you’ve got a problem, you got to do something about it,” she said.
Other things that can be done to make adjustments to soil include looking at the weeds that are growing in a garden. If the wrong weeds are growing there, the soil could be too acidic or too alkaline.
Walker, who has been gardening all her life, believes gardening is very rewarding and refreshing.
“You get outside, you get exercise, you get air, you listen to the birds sing . . . You see all these things that make you feel good,” she said.
Julia Shapka, the Environment Services Coordinator for Lac La Biche County was also at the event. She said the workshop was organized by the Environmental Services team as part of a series of gardening learning opportunities the department has put together.
The objective of the workshop is to teach participants about common soil amendments and the best ways to apply them, to improve their gardening experiences and success in growing their own food.
“Our host has many years of gardening experience and even created a gardening guide for her previous community. We’ve received lots of positive feedback about her and our recent workshops, as she has a wealth of knowledge,” said Shapka
Lac La Biche County Environmental Services tries to host multiple workshops throughout the year on a variety of subjects related to sustainability and waste production.
“Our gardening workshops are currently quite popular, as more and more people are getting into gardening, but they face challenges with higher costs of supplies and weather conditions,” she acknowledged.
“These workshops encourage at-home food production, decreasing the amount of food waste in households, and they also give us a chance to promote the benefits of compost in gardening.”
