Garden Practices
Thursday, March 17th, 2011
The Scott Arboretum has published a brochure detailing the concept, practices and research behind the Organic Lawn Initiative. You can view it online at http://www.scottarboretum.org/publications/OrganicLawnBrochure2-11.pdf or pick up a copy from the brochure box at the organic lawn, installed just below the stairs of Magill Walk.
Four Swarthmore College biology majors are studying the biological diversity in our soil and the effects of our organic and conventional landscape maintenance practices on soil organisms. Such knowledge will improve our ability to maximize soil fertility and plant health by harnessing natural ecological processes. Organisms including fungi, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and earthworms are the…
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Thursday, February 17th, 2011
By Isabell Newlin, Good Food student worker
Elm Street, which runs by the President’s house and the Good Food Garden, is lined with sugar maples. If you have walked down this street in the past few weeks, you might have noticed a couple of blue bags hanging from the trunks. This winter a few of us (Swarthmore students) tapped three of these maples, and we have been boiling the sap down to make syrup.
Equipment used to collection the sap. photo credit: B. Dair
To tap a maple you need a drill (7/16 in), a spout, a mallet, and a bucket. As the…
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Monday, December 13th, 2010
By Erin Curtis, Student Organic Lawn Coordinator
The Arboretum recently achieved another step in the transition to an organic lawn maintenance program for Mertz field. We had a demonstration of the “AERA-vator” aeration machine, which loosens highly compacted soil to induce root growth in plants and facilitate nutrient dispersal in the soil. This is a crucial step included in the protocol from our consultant, Eric T. Fleisher. Before our first batch of compost tea is applied, we need to loosen the soil so that the liquid can penetrate further and facilitate microbial activity deep into the root zone.
Not only does compaction…
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