Apr 19

Apr 19 E130: Building Healthy, Living Soil with Soil Scientist, Ashley Labrecque from the Blog & YouTube Channel, Gardening In Canada

Episode 130: Listen here!

Maggie and Dave get ready to geek out in today’s episode, talking soil science with an agronomist. There’s lots to cover and learn in this episode!

But first Maggie shares about her goal of legally growing cannabis at home in Manitoba this season, and the challenges that are coming with it. You can check out our two past cannabis-focused episodes with Mike Mailman, Cannabis Part 1 and Cannabis Part 2.

Dave shares an update on his healthy journey and some tips about growing basil at this time of season. Pro-Tip: You can start basil up until May and still have big, bushy plants!

Dave’s Fav Thing: Patchouli

Maggie’s Fav Thing: Giant Blue Point Formula Zinnias

Listener Question of the Week: Hi. Does anyone know of a local retailer of wiggle wire springs and channels for fastening greenhouse plastic? Thanks. — Dave Kitchen

Join our community Facebook Group to submit a question and connect with fellow listeners

This week’s guest:

Soil Scientist, Ashley Labrecque, creator of Gardening in Canada

About Ashley Labrecque:

Ashley is an agronomist (soil scientist) based in Saskatchewan who has had a passion for plants since she was a small child. She graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a bachelor’s degree in science and a major in Soil Science. On her blog and YouTube channel, Gardening In Canada, Ashley brings science to gardening in a way that is informative but also helpful to those learning to garden.

This episode covers:

Ashley’s background as a gardener
How to become an agronomist and study “soil science”
The various soil types in Canadian provinces
The ten soil orders across North America
What type of soil is the “worst” to garden in vs. what is the “best”
Ashley’s belief on soil testing and whether it’s worth it for home gardeners
What specifics to look for in a soil test and the soil availability pH chart
How to perform the “underwear soil test” for testing microbes in your soil
How to build healthy soil in a raised bed garden vs. how to amend soil in an existing bed
Ashley’s philosophy on the “single till” method
How to fix clay soils
Ashley’s seed starting soil recipe
Humic acid — love it or leave it?
What you should never add to your garden

This episode is sponsored by:

House of Anansi Press is Canada’s leading independent publisher. Anansi Press’ mission is to publish very good books. This episode features one of their newly published books this Spring, Gardening Naturally, written by horticulturist and landscape architect, Laurie Perron and botany photographer, Sarah Quesnel-Langlois.