Blog
Re-thinking gardening. Be successful! January 20, 2025
Gardening is a rewarding and enjoyable activity for many plant lovers, whether it's about creating a beautiful space, adding privacy, or simply connecting with nature. However, for those new to gardening or focused on enhancing their property, success can sometimes feel out of reach. Why does this happen? The answer lies in the roots—literally.
Plant roots require the right environment to thrive, and not all soils provide what they need. For example, simply using a bag of soil from a store like Canadian Tire might not be enough. It's essential to consider what plants need at the root level.
This brings us to an important topic: soil health. Healthy soil is the foundation of thriving plants and plays a critical role in tackling bigger issues like climate change, soil regeneration, and sustainability. By focusing on soil health, we can create gardens that not only grow beautifully but also contribute to a healthier planet. Imagine achieving food sovereignty by growing your pear tree. Not only could you enjoy fresh fruit straight from your garden, but you could also share the bounty with friends, family, and neighbours in the fall. However, growing a pear tree is more challenging these days due to climate change. Droughts, floods, and unpredictable winter weather make it harder for plants to thrive year after year.
To ensure your pear tree grows successfully and sustainably, it’s essential to start with the right approach. Use the proper soil at the base of the tree, dig a hole of the correct size, and plant the tree at the right depth. There’s a science behind all of this, and while it may seem complex, any gardener can learn the skills needed. If you’re unsure where to start, I’m always here to help!
Once established, your pear tree can become self-sufficient for years, but only if it’s given the right start and receives minimal ongoing care. By focusing on soil health and proper regeneration, your tree will become more resilient to climate challenges, diseases, and pests. Healthy soil is the foundation for a tree that thrives and produces fruit season after season.
Gardening, however, isn’t always simple, and many people face setbacks due to a lack of knowledge. Planting without the right information isn’t sustainable—your tree may fail to grow, leaving you without any pears and needing costly replacements. Proper planting techniques save time, effort, and money in the long run.
This is especially critical in new subdivisions (and even some older neighbourhoods) where the topsoil has often been stripped away, leaving barren land where even grass struggles to survive. These soils lack the life and nutrients necessary for healthy plant growth. If you want to enjoy the benefits of your garden, soil regeneration is essential. With the right care and preparation, your pear tree—and your garden—can thrive.
Fall planting is one of the greatest!
January chills! January 15 2025.
Winter has arrived, bringing its chilly weather. But for those born before the 2000s, it's hard not to notice how unpredictable the seasons have become. Take February 2024, for example—one day, I went outside, dug a hole in my garden, and recorded a video about soil health while wearing a T-shirt! That’s definitely not typical February weather for a Canadian winter! As a child, February meant large snowbanks, not spring-like days. What a difference!
January is the perfect time to unwind after the busy gardening season and prepare for the next. It’s a great opportunity to dive into some reading and learn more about gardening practices (for example, I love reading this type of book at this time of year: The Garden Lover's Guide to Canada by Larry Hodgson or Jardins privés du Québec by Perry Mastrovito). I encourage everyone to explore (or continue exploring!) the vital topic of sustainability in gardening—it is a vital topic of sustainability in how we grow our food or flowers for our garden - it’s truly a critical topic to understand as our weather changes and our cities continue to expand.
Of course, reading about new plants is always exciting. Nowadays, I like exploring these new plants' ways of growing and trying to figure out how they can improve soil health and give something back to us. During the winter months, I focus on indoor plants, which I love incorporating into my summer flower containers for a creative and edgy touch.
Sustainability remains at the heart of everything I do, both personally and through my work with Oasis Natural AgriScience (https://www.oasisontario.com/). It’s a topic worth exploring as we prepare for another wonderful gardening season!
Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll share plenty of helpful tips and information to inspire and guide you as we gear up for the next gardening season. My goal is to help you thrive in your gardens and perhaps even change your perspective on gardening.
As we head into 2024, it’s more important than ever to focus on how we, as gardeners, can contribute to healing and restoring Mother Earth. Gardeners hold one of the most powerful voices in our communities, provinces, and even our country—there are so many of us!
Let’s work together to garden in ways that nurture the planet and create lasting, positive change.
Soil is the basis of life!
What will you get in this BLOG?
Initial informations to regenerate soils
Ideas on where to go and start a project
Brief descriptions on soil needs
pointers but not recipes: recipes are always tailored to specific projects.
A subscription is coming soon to obtain all these initial pointers, information, and more.
A deeper subscription will get you recipes, exchanges with us.
In the end, we can work with you on specific projects to bring them to fruition.
February 7, 2024
How do we investigate ?
Is my soil healthy?
Regeneration Project
The Problem: the field was planted 2 years ago after importing soil (following all conservation and municipal regulations). Two years later half the trees (conifers and deciduous) have died.
What was done before calling Oasis Ontario?: a consultant went to look at the trees. Soil samples were taken and sent to the lab. The regular approach...
Oasis Ontario's Analysis:
we looked at the soil test results and they did not give much information. Chemical imbalances, low organic matter, ratios seemingly good but levels of some elements wrong. TYPICAL RESULTS!
We then went into the field in the spring of 2023....
Rows of trees are dead
The cover crop is growing well with patchy area all over. This cover crop is 98% gramineae, The 2% left is some volunteer clover and weeds.
Soil samples taken and analysed through microscopy. We only found bacteria. No higher forms of microorganisms. No fungus!
Observation while digging:
No aggregation. The soil crumbles. Aggregation appears only in the top 3 inches below the cover crop. Under the top layer the soil crumbles.
Worms are present only near a root, either a dandelion, a clover, etc. or in the old potting soil from the dead trees
Clovers and vetch have NO nodules
Poor water infiltration. Spongy ground areas.
!!! Very INTERESTING !!!: The soil on the edge of the field is most likely an old pasture with an old gate for farm and animal use. The grasses there are super thick, the thatch is incredibly dense and digging there is easy but with a huge root mass to cut. We found 10 times the amount of worms here!!!
What should be done??? REGENERATION.
There are various PROTOCOLS we can use at various time of year, or at various time of production cycles. It depends on what is needed. HOWEVER, we need to think differently now and go back to our old traditions of farming. We can call this regeneration but we can just say it is to RECREATE MOTHER NATURE.
More to come as this is just the beginning of the regeneration for this farm...
Lets not forget that:
we can regenerate prior to seeding or planting our fields and it does not necessarily take years. Sometimes just a few months.
we can regenerate while our crops are growing.
no matter what, a precise PROTOCOL gets adopted and must be followed!!!