Gardening with Chloe-Is it just a bunch of dirt?

Chloe the Gardener is thrilled to have Kristen Crouch visit Chloe’s Gardening Club.

Kristin is the host for Eastlink’s television show That Bloomin’ Garden. Her show is geared towards the new gardener in hope that she can encourage someone to try their hand at gardening and further beautify this earth we love. Kristin is passionate about teaching children how to garden. She recently developed a junior gardener class that she runs twice a year in local schools.
Kristin has a diploma in general horticulture from the University of Guelph. She has worked in the landscape industry for many years and recently retired to devote more time to teaching.

– It is my goal to develop new gardens at schools and youth centers so we no longer have to say we are two generations away from growing our own food – Kristen Crouch

There is just as much life under the soil as there is on top.

Go to your recycling and grab a few old newspapers.

Place the newspaper on the ground outside and get them wet with the hose or use a watering can. Take the newspaper and lay it down over an area where you might want a new garden or over an existing bare spot in the garden. On top of the newspaper, place some old leaves to help keep the paper from blowing away. Leave the paper in place for one week, don’t forget about it!

After one week is over, check the paper by carefully lifting one corner up. It will feel wet and sticky but that’s okay. Nature has been at work decomposing the paper in a special way.

Look closely and you should see worms under your newspaper.

Why are they there and not in the soil? Worms like dark places and that’s just what you created when you placed the newspaper on the soil. Worms are busy in our soil all the time. They come up for air on rainy days, take a peek at the world and then crawl back down in the soil.

This is great for your garden as worms travel in the soil and make tunnels to let air into the soil.

Worms eat organic waste, soil and minerals in the soil and their body turns it into compost which makes the soil great for growing plants. They are truly a gardener’s best friend.

You can follow Kristin on Twitter : @deltagardener and visit her blog: That BloominGarden

Tagged as: chloe the gardener, education, gardening, gardening with kids, happy healthy kids, kids, kristin crouch, learning, Nature, whats in our dirt, worms