Sustainable Solano | Permaculture

Reflection, Gratitude and Anticipation for What Lies Ahead

Dec 20, 2022

A letter from incoming SuSol Board President Maggie Kolk

The past few years have been challenging in so many ways for most of us. Sustainable Solano’s strength and resilience under the leadership of Executive Director Elena Karoulina in the face of these challenges is remarkable. Marilyn Bardet, outgoing Board of Directors president, has played no small part in supporting Elena, the team, and the board through demanding times. Marilyn will be a hard act to follow. Fortunately, she will remain a board member, and I am confident that I can rely on her future support and nurturing mentorship.

As we begin a new year and as I take on the role of board president, reflection, gratitude, and anticipation for what’s to come are at the forefront of my mind

Reflection and Gratitude

True to our mission of “Nurturing Initiatives for the Good of the Whole,” SuSol continues to grow and expand countywide programs to support and sustain the Solano County community. Like any organization, the team experienced both change and growth in 2022. We welcomed new team members, said farewell to others, and look forward to bringing on additional dedicated, enthusiastic team members in 2023. The newest member of our board of directors, Treasurer John Uselman, brings the skill and professional expertise needed as we move forward into our next phase.

The key ingredient for the continuing growth and success of SuSol is the dedication and devotion of all of the people who make up the team managing and supporting our programs — sustainable landscaping, local food, resilient communities, youth engagement, sustaining conversations, and community gardens. (I proudly share that Avant Garden on First Street in Benicia provided over 1,000 lbs of fresh organically grown produce to the Benicia community in 2022. We are over the moon grateful for our volunteers who helped in this effort!)

Wholehearted appreciation and gratitude are sent to the entire Sustainable Solano team and volunteers for their commitment and hard work. To paraphrase Proust: you are “the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

We also are lucky to have the continuous support of funders who see the value of SuSol’s work here in the county, including the Solano County Water Agency, which first helped the organization grow from Benicia to throughout the county and continues to support our Solano Sustainable Backyards program today, and Solano Public Health, which saw the value in community gardens that increased access to fresh produce into Solano communities and moved that to action by supporting our Solano Gardens program. From the big funders to the individual donors, we are grateful to have the support of the community.

Details of SuSol’s accomplishments and activities can be found on the What’s Growing? blog.

Looking Forward to 2023

While I do admit to a bit of trepidation taking on a new leadership role, my excitement for the future of Sustainable Solano mitigates any fears I have about filling those big Marilyn Bardet shoes!

The future is bright for SuSol with existing programs flourishing and new support mechanisms coming from respected valuable resources. The perfect holiday gift arrived early in December in the form of a capacity-building support grant from a Bay Area agency. This grant is just the boost SuSol needs to transform our organization in the coming years.

Brilliant team members and supportive, experienced board members are committed to thinking outside the proverbial box and bringing new innovative ideas to the table. 2023 promises to be exciting and transformative for SuSol. To quote Walt Disney, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things, because we are curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

Finally, do you ask yourself “What can I do to live a more sustainable lifestyle and reduce the effects of climate change?” With a variety of programs to choose from, I urge you to take the leap and get involved in one or more of SuSol’s important sustainability programs. What is your passion — Air Quality, Local Food, Youth Engagement, Workforce Development? Attend SuSol events, volunteer for one of our programs, and become a friend of Sustainable Solano by donating to support our mission.

Wishing all of our Sustainable Solano community the very best for a peaceful, sustainable and prosperous 2023.

Maggie Kolk
President, Board of Directors
Sustainable Solano

Why Hampton Bay HOA Decided on Sustainable Landscaping

Oct 26, 2022

By Rick Theisen, Hampton Bay HOA Board Member / Treasurer

We’ve worked closely with Rick and the Hampton Bay landscape committee in a partnership to demonstrate how a waterwise, beautiful native garden could replace water-hungry lawns in HOA common areas. Here, Rick offers some insight on that partnership and the first pilot project.

Prior to the 2016-2017 rainy season, the wettest on record, most of the state was experiencing increasingly worsening drought conditions. At one point, people were doing the odd and even dance to conserve water. Remember that? But, after the 2016-17 rainfall, most thought that we were out of the woods. Virtually the entire state was transformed. No more drought, said some! Reservoirs were refilled to capacity. A harbinger of good things to come!?

A couple of us that had been on the board of the Hampton Bay association, at that time for more than 15 years and intimately familiar with the finances, weren’t so sure about the optimistic prospects. There were other factors in play for our community that were compelling us to think otherwise. Common area landscaping was relatively vast with large swaths of grass that required a great deal of water. The plants and shrubs were aging and outdated — most installed at the community’s inception 40 years ago. Most of the irrigation was the original equipment — inefficient and high maintenance spray heads in the plant and shrub perimeter areas, as well. And, to exacerbate matters, the city was steadily increasing the water and sewer rates. So, we were having to increase association dues more than desired due to the rising costs of water and related landscape maintenance.

We knew we couldn’t sustain the path we were on and were also a bit cynical of the drought prospects, suspecting that the overabundance of rain in the 2016-17 season was a teaser by mother nature. In retrospect it was, of course, a fluke year in a worsening 20-year, some say 100-year, drought.

So, we began a campaign advocating to the other homeowners (100 units) for a complete transformation of the common area landscape and irrigation in an effort to mitigate increasing water usage costs and thereby curtailing future dues hikes. It was a challenge at first because the word “drought” was no longer front and center in the media. However, over the next one to two years as talks of the drought resurfaced, the reality we were trying to convey — steadily increasing water/sewer rates, increasing landscape and irrigation maintenance costs and, of course, dues increases — started to bear fruit. Slowly homeowners began to jump on board.

We developed a three-phase implementation strategy over a two- to three-year period that would allow us to stagger the costs. One of the members of the landscape committee, which we had formed specifically for this broader transformation project, had prior experience with a nonprofit whose mission was to assist the residents and merchants of Solano County to conserve water by adopting sustainable landscaping methods. Prior to the beginning of Phase III (the conversion of the larger areas of grass) we met with Sustainable Solano (SuSol) and immediately realized the benefits of sustainable landscaping. We were hooked.

Hampton Bay HOA Project Slideshow

We designated a large grassy area as a pilot so that we may learn to adapt the sustainable methods to our unique environment. Michael Wedgley, the SuSol designer and soil enrichment consultant, proposed a design consisting of a variety of true California native plants, water catchment basins (swales), a basic pipe system to divert the nearby roof’s runoff to the swales and wood mulch to help retain moisture. The long-time and trusted gardener for our association implemented the design including a very efficient drip system to help the plants take root, of course.

Keep in mind that we were doing this during the pandemic and experienced several delays due to lockdowns, supply shortages, crew shortages and illness. It took longer than expected, but the end result began to garner approval from homeowners. We observed that the native plants were taking root almost immediately and within a few short weeks had noticeably grown.

In this large pilot area, with the new drip system combined with the moisture-containing properties of mulch, we calculated a water savings between 70 to 90%. Because we installed true California native plants, the theory is that within one to two years we’ll be able to turn off the drip irrigation and save 100%. It will definitely pay for itself over the long term. We’re looking forward to converting the remaining large grassy areas in our community.

You can learn more about the partnership with Hampton Bay HOA here, including information about building healthy soil and garden designs.

Learn more about this pilot project here, including details on plants used, rainwater capture and water savings.

Regenerative Agriculture: Health for the Land & People

May 16, 2022

By Sustainable Solano

Event speakers (from left) Harald Hoven, Michael Wedgley and Rose Curley (fourth from left), speak with Scott Dodson, Elena Karoulina and Priscilla Yeaney at the Pleasants Valley demonstration site

“Regenerative Agriculture.” It’s a buzzword, but just what does it mean?

Rose Curley asked this question of about 30 people gathered for the regenerative agriculture event that was part of the Solano Local Food System Alliance‘s quarterly meeting. The event brought together three speakers to cover different sustainable agricultural practices. Rose is a GrizzlyCorps fellow with Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) in the organization’s Ecological Farming Program.

The crowd did its best to answer the question. Regenerative agriculture is ancestral traditions, self-sustaining, biodiversity, organic, no waste, healing, no till, place-based, nutrient-dense, abundant, soil-building, interdependence … the list had more than 25 suggestions.

The range of answers “speaks to how broad this term is,” Rose said. “You see it on farms, the produce section of large grocery stores, and tacked onto restaurant menus.”

Rose then went over some of the basics of regenerative agriculture and its intention to return health to the land while growing nutrient-dense food and building overall resilience for farmers and our communities. She brought a chunk of soil from the farm where she works to talk about the makeup of healthy soil and maximizing biodiversity above and below ground, and some cover crops that cover and nourish the soil. Regenerative agriculture asks for an emphasis on a more holistic approach to farming, but that can be gained through a variety of practices, she said. (On the topic of nutrient-dense foods, she said you can learn more about how healthy soil creates healthy food by reading some of the research that has been done at Singing Frogs Farm in Sebastopol.)

One of the most important parts of the conversation around water and soil health and conserving natural resources is the wealth of knowledge that farmers can offer to each other to build resilience, she said. This support is particularly important because of the barriers to farming in a regenerative manner: the higher financial investment needed, the time it takes to see returns and improved health in the system, and social and cultural barriers.

The conversation pulled in much of the audience, with observations offered about how the term “organic” has lost its meaning, the use of hydroponic growing that doesn’t use or return anything to the soil, how to better promote and support growers using regenerative practices, and the idea of making Pleasants Valley a demonstration corridor for different regenerative approaches to build more public interest and understanding.

The event was held at the farm site of Pleasant Valley School, with the seating and presentation area carefully arranged and decorated with spring flowers and sporting a table of Solano-grown food for the attendees (and eyed appraisingly by the three resident donkeys). Sustainable Solano is creating a demonstration permaculture site on the property in partnership with Pleasant Valley School, which will also pursue a biodynamic garden on site in accordance with Waldorf educational principles. The event had speakers on both approaches to the landscape.

This is a new scale of project for Sustainable Solano, which has not worked on a farm property before, noted our executive director, Elena Karoulina. The hope is to plant the seeds through the foundation of the permaculture site so that the school community can continue to grow it in scope and vision over the years.

Property owner Shea McGuire said the hope is to instill stewardship in the Pleasant Valley School students, giving them an understanding that they are part of the ecosystem and to “keep the noise of the world out of childhood.” Elena and Shea signed the partnership agreement for the demonstration project at the beginning of the meeting. We invite you to join us for a public planting day on Saturday, May 28, to create the foundation for this permaculture site.

Solano Gardens Program Manager Michael Wedgley, who is designing the demonstration permaculture site on the farm, spoke about permaculture. Permaculture is a way to grow plants in a harmonious way with nature, guided by principles that can be applied to everything from a landscape to how an organization is run. Recognizing the relationships of everything in the system, including the relationships of the plants to one another, is vital to the design, he said.

Michael addressed questions and conversation around a good introductory permaculture book (Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway), taking fire into account when designing in a fire zone, and the dangers of introducing non-native species to an area.

Harald Hoven, a retired biodynamic farmer who still consults regularly on the practice, talked about the history of biodynamic farming as it arose nearly 100 years ago. A main focus of biodynamic agriculture is building vitality into the system that then translates into the food we receive from the system – vitality that is often lost in today’s agricultural practices. Biodynamics also focuses on relationships, with plants and livestock kept in balance on the site to yield land fertility. Sometimes, things have to be brought onto the site, such as manure or compost, to build that fertility, but ideally everything comes from the land itself, he said.

Just as we are always developing and becoming something new, so the land grows and develops with our help and guidance, Harald said. Gradually, it all works toward the greater health of the land.

From all of the talks and conversation it was clear that these different approaches have the same objective: health, both for the land and for people who consume what that land yields.

Our next big event, Bounty of the County at the Solano County Fair on June 18 will recognize that yield through the produce of Solano family farms. You also can learn more about the Solano Local Food System Alliance at the event. Alliance members will be there to hear about your vision for local food and your commitment to supporting the local food system. Another opportunity is at the Alliance’s quarterly meetings, which are always open to the public. The next one on Aug. 4 will focus on ways to buy local food, from purchasing directly from Solano farmers to Cultivate Community Food Co-op and other retail locations.

Pleasants Valley Demonstration Permaculture Site Installation

Join us on Saturday, May 28, to learn about sustainable landscape design and help install a demonstration site based on permaculture principles at a Pleasants Valley farm!

Learn more and register here

Growing Healthier Plants and Ecosystems Regeneratively With Biology

Dec 16, 2021

By Michael Wedgley, Permaculture Designer and Soil Food Web Lab Technician

We are excited to be working with Michael and Hampton Bay HOA on the designs for two pilot sites that will demonstrate how lawn in common areas can be replaced with low-water, low-maintenance sustainable landscaping that is healthy, beautiful and natural. Here, Michael shares about the importance of healthy soil biology as part of that equation.

Michael Wedgley meets with a client in a permaculture garden he designed with healthy soil biology in mind.

Photo courtesy of GMC Photography and Video

Growing with biology is a decision to strike symbiosis with the natural world and allow natural systems to support the life of your plants. We can create greener, more vibrant ecosystems that support wildlife and humans more effectively and abundantly. We eliminate the need for toxic and time-consuming applications to “feed” plants and keep disease and pests at bay. By introducing biology into systems that are lacking and nurturing their establishment we can achieve balance in a system that allows us to let go of the wheel and let nature take over. This blog is meant to give a brief introduction to the natural process in action that allow for this transition.

Learn more about the Hampton Bay HOA project and Permaculture Designer Michael Wedgley on our HOA Projects page.

Who Are the Players

Fungi – Mushrooms are the fruiting body of a group of organisms known as Fungus. There are Fungi that break down material like leaves and wood, Fungi that form beneficial relationships with plants, and Fungi that parasitize plants. Fungi is the dominant nutrient-cycler in an old growth forest.

Bacteria – There is aerobic (oxygen preferring) and anaerobic (lack of oxygen preferring) bacteria. Most beneficial soil bacteria is aerobic; most disease forming bacteria is anaerobic. Bacteria help to mine nutrients from parent material and create structure in soil.

Nematodes – Nematodes are like microscopic worms. There are 3 primary groups to be aware of; bacterial feeding, fungal feeding, and root feeding. Root feeding can cause plant disease.

Protozoa – Large single celled organisms that feed on bacteria.

Nutrient Cycling

By ensuring that soil has adequate numbers of each of our microbial populations we eliminate the need for fertilizers. All soils have the necessary nutrients for plants to thrive. The biology in the soil makes those nutrients plant available through the nutrient cycle. This semi-complex interaction starts primarily with bacteria and through predation by nematodes and protozoa, excess nutrients are released into the soil.

Diversification and Disease Prevention

By ensuring that we have high and diverse populations of beneficial microbes we ensure there is no room for disease organisms to dominate and thrive. In general, just as in the human body, disease organisms in the soil and on the surface of the foliage of plants need a weak ecosystem to establish and thrive. By creating a diverse and abundant ecosystem of microbes we create a system that is impenetrable by diseases and pests.

Fungal to Bacteria Ratio and Weed Suppression

By customizing the ratio of the amount of Fungi in the soil to the amount of Bacteria in the soil, we can actually select for which plants we want to grow and eliminate weed species. To understand this, consider an old growth forest. You’ll notice that there are ferns, there are large coniferous trees, but nowhere can you find your typical garden weeds. The reason for this is the form of nitrogen released by fungi. This form of nitrogen (ammonia) is a lower ph. This is why you hear people say “blueberries prefer acidic soil.” On the other end of the spectrum (bacterially dominated) you have early succession plants like grasses. This is because the exudates created by bacteria are more alkaline. You don’t see many trees in prairies. Applying different compost preparations that have higher fungal to bacterial ratios we can begin to affect the ratio in the soil and have healthier plants and select against weed species.

Thermophilic Compost

The process in which we create compost to ensure the highest diversification of beneficial organisms and that we are able to eliminate pest organisms is through Thermophilic Composting. Using a diverse source of material, in the right balance, while maintaining aerobic conditions we are able to raise the temperature of a pile to the point that disease and pest organisms are destroyed while beneficial ones are left to thrive given the rich and diverse foods provided. We monitor the pile’s biology by assessing it under a microscope. Once the biological numbers are at our desired numbers it is ready for a number of applications.

Applications

With a microbially dominant compost that has our desired ratio we can apply the microbes through 3 primary applications.

Direct compost applications – This application is recommended if the organic matter is lacking in dirt we wish to grow in. We can either till in some compost or apply to the surface of dirt.
Compost extract – In this application we actually extract the microbes out of the compost and they become suspended in water. We can then apply this as a root drench to put the biology right where the plants will use it, or at areas of compaction where the bacteria can begin to loosen it up and create aerobic conditions with improved soil structure.
Compost teas – Once we have an extract, we can “brew” it by adding oxygen into the water with some foods for the microbes. We let the extract bubble with aeration for roughly 24 hours while monitoring the growth under a microscope. Given time, bacteria and other microbes are able to multiply and form glues that allow them to stick to surfaces. We then spray this compost tea on the leaves of plants giving them a protective barrier from disease-causing organisms as well as allowing for nutrient exchange on the foliage of plants.

The number of applications necessary to establish a resilient and sustainable colony of beneficial microbes in the soil varies given many variables. The best way to picture what it takes is to think of settlers settling America, according to Elaine Ingham, microbiologist and researcher who created the Soil Food Web approach. Sometimes the first to arrive didn’t survive or few survived. The next ship was better prepared, or there were some settlers previously that made conditions slightly more hospitable so more were able to survive. Every subsequent ship going forward led to increasingly successful population growths until they became sustainable and reproduced and growing. It is the same with the microbes, and varies depending how hospitable or inhospitable the soil is to begin with, and how well it is protected during colonization.

Fertilizers, Pesticides, Salts, and Chemicals in Water

In establishing and maintaining healthy plants and healthy soil in a biological method we need to ensure the health and safety of the organisms. We must become caretakers of the invisible life that populates the soil beneath our feet and the foliage up above. A critical piece of this care is to ensure that their environment is not compromised by salts or chemicals which can completely eradicate the microbial populations. Fertilizers are a form of salts. All salts will dehydrate the cells of the microbes and cause death. Pesticides are created to destroy life. Even “targeted” pesticides have unwanted casualties and can upset the balance. Lastly chlorine and chloramine in water are designed to ensure lack of microbial growth in the pipes and therefore can do the same in your soil and on your plants. It is extremely important that we understand how fragile ecosystems can be. In general, these natural systems are extremely resilient, but when humans come in with their toxic approaches we upset the balance. Nature will always find a way back towards its attempt at turning everything into an old growth forest, but that takes time. If we want to have healthy and natural environments we have to help the biology along and make sure we don’t destroy it with our products.

Climate & Environmental Festival Reconnects Community to Create Change

Nov 10, 2021

By Jonathan Erwin, Resilient Neighborhoods Program Manager

Sustainable Solano hosted Suisun City’s first Climate and Environmental Festival in October. From the long slumber of in-person events through the pandemic, it was great to finally see some friendly masked faces and engage with a like-minded community in Suisun City. Over the course of the day, presentations from San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, Pathways Climate Institute and Vital Cycles provided a vision and tools for the future while an engagement fair highlighted many organizational efforts across the area as well as broader Solano County.

Amidst the hubbub of the festivities, this event made me realize the importance of connecting with each other. For the past few months, I have found it hard to stay optimistic about the future. With climate impacts happening every day, it wears on my mental state just how insurmountable the climate crisis can feel. Coupled with the pandemic, isolation and physical disconnection from our support networks can leave us feeling the brunt of unsolvable doom.

But there is light in the end. Our conversations through the event both with old and new faces, reconnected us with the larger community across Solano County working and advocating for issues around the climate crisis. We have power in numbers, and our community is energized as ever for change. From resource management, transportation and sewer districts, we have advocates for this type of work across a spectrum of organizations. And the ideas that the 120-plus attendees from the festival came up with represent broad and different strategies that we can use to advance our work at Sustainable Solano and across the efforts of Solano County.

We hope to see you out and about over the next few months to learn more about what your vision is for a more sustainable future. Have an idea now? Feel free to reach out to us at info@sustainablesolano.org

Check out some of the presentations from the day in the videos below.

2021 Suisun City Climate & Environmental Festival Educational Talks

Adapting to Rising Tides in Suisun City & Solano County

Protecting the Marsh: A New Suisun Marsh Protection Plan

Nature-Based Solutions to Address Climate Change

The Sustainable Rose Garden

Jun 10, 2021

By Katie Rivera, permaculturist and educator

Katie Rivera, a recent Permaculture Design Certificate recipient and part of the team who designed the Rio Vista Veterans Residence demonstration food forest garden, shares this blog with us about how to grow beautiful roses sustainably. Katie will talk about her research and design process for a rose garden proposed for the Rio Vista Veterans Residence in a Zoom talk on sustainable rose gardening July 27 (Register here!). Join her for interesting facts about growing disease resistant, low maintenance roses and specific ideas and suggestions from the Veterans Memorial Rose Garden design.

Katie Rivera at Cordelia Community Park

I love roses! There is no other flower that can be a shrub, tree, or vine and give you as many choices of colors and fragrances than a rose. Wouldn’t it be nice to grow your own roses and have them thrive? Over the last couple of decades, researchers, rose cultivators and hybridizers have been working hard to get away from using harmful pesticides on their roses. Trials are being done all over the world to identify roses that are disease resistant, use less water, and require minimal care. Thankfully, these experts are sharing their findings with us! This is a great time to grow beautiful roses with just a bit of know-how and very little maintenance.

Rose Development In History

Let’s start with a little history about roses and their names.

Roses have been grown, survived and proven themselves over millions of years on their own without any kind of maintenance or intervention. “Species” roses are the oldest with only five petals. Any existing rose can be crossed with any other rose to come up with a new hybrid rose. A rose hybridized before 1867 is considered a “heritage” rose. Any rose after that date is called a “modern” rose. And roses grown post-2000 are designated “new millennial” roses. Roses that share a common flower form are considered to be in the same class.

The rose is America’s national flower. Did you know that? Well, I learned something new! In 1986, Congress designated the rose as the National Floral Emblem of the United States. Believe it or not, our first president, George Washington, was a rose breeder! The rose ‘Mary Washington’ was bred and named after George’s mother and is still grown today.

So growing roses should be easy peasy, right? Well, yes, if you grow the right rose in the right location with the right conditions. Getting all these components just ‘right’ is what sustainable gardening is all about.

Sustainable Gardening Best Practices

So what is Sustainable Gardening?

According to John Starnes in Probiotic Rose Growing, the healthiest and most stable ecologies in the natural world are complex, multi-tiered ones, with predator and prey creating sustainable balances. Why would our rose gardens be any different or deserve less?

Observation and taking note of what works and what does not is what sustainable gardening encompasses. We must be aware of what is going on in the garden and try to simulate nature in all its wonderful glory.
There are many components to watch and take note of in the garden, starting with the soil, water, sun, heat, cold, wind. The list will be specific to your unique site. Then the conscientious gardener must make informed plant decisions using the most organic solutions possible. Where there’s a will to do it ‘right,’ there’s a way!
Amending the soil might be the first step, but you won’t know until checking the planting area for pH levels (6-6.5 is ideal for roses) and available nutrients.
In regards to insect predators, the goal is to use an approach called Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to manage pests rather than eliminate them, while at the same time exerting minimal impact on the environment.
Roses thrive with mulch. It slowly breaks down and continuously feeds the soil. In addition, mulch helps retain moisture and blocks weeds. It’s a must!
Combining roses with annuals, grasses, perennials, shrubs and vines is a great way to create color combinations, make more interesting and creative borders, and attract beneficial insects into the garden. Beauty and benefits? What’s not to like?

Companion Plants for Roses

Trumpet , Oriental and Orienpet Lilies
Delphiniums
Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage)
Centaurea montana (Mountain Bluet)
Salvia ‘Blue Hills’
Veronica spicata ‘Royal Candles’
Veronica ‘Sunny Border Blue’
Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’
Polemonium sps.
Purple Pasqueflower
Platycondon ‘Sentimental’
Nepeta ‘Blue Carpet’
Vining Clematis of all kinds, especially ‘Betty Corning’ and Bush Clematis

*This list comes from William Radler’s Favorite Perennials to Grow as Companions to Roses

Soil Basics

Sustainable gardening requires that we develop a healthy respect for the soil as a living organism. Soil is the base we depend on to build our gardens. We must start there before we can begin to grow anything. A good soil is alive with micro- and macro- organisms devouring each other!

Research shows that roses with healthy populations of mycorrhizae are more vigorous, with increased drought- and disease-resistance and the ability to take up more nutrients and water. Myco means fungus. Rhiza means root. So the term refers to the symbiotic relationship between the two. (See resource list for lacto serum and ‘Poop Soup’ recipes.)

Nearly all water and nutrients taken up by roses come from the soil. Therefore, we must try to understand the nature of our native soil and then manage it to provide our roses with what they need.
Soil scientists have determined that the ideal soil texture for growing roses is 60% sand, 20% silt, and 20% clay. These elements are inorganic matter. The composition of good garden soil or humus contains 45% of this inorganic matter, 5% organic matter, 25% water, and 25% air.

The easiest way to improve the water and nutrient retention in your soil is to increase the amount of organic matter. As a rule, the greater the variety of organic material used, the greater the variety of potential nutrient release for future plant use.

Water Basics

Humus can hold up to 20 times its weight in water! One square foot of this quality soil can contain up to 40 gallons of water. Think of it like a sponge (only much better). So it makes sense in terms of water conservation and efficiency to improve the soil so it can retain more water for plants.

Drip irrigation, which only provides water to the plants or areas that need it, can substantially cut back on your usage and help limit the growth of unwanted weeds.

Using synthetic fertilizers actually dries out the soil and causes you to use more water just to keep the plants alive and growing. Besides destroying the health of the soil, pesticides and chemical fertilizers contaminate streams, kill microbial life, leach into waterways, and build up harmful ecological deposits.

Planting Roses the Right Way

A rose that is happy in its conditions, with plenty of sunshine and healthy soil, is going to be naturally healthy and disease resistant in your garden eliminating any need for harsh chemicals (P. Kukielski).

Sounds pretty simple, right? Of course right! This is all you need to do! Yes, you do have a role to play. You can’t plant it and forget it. Make sure you don’t leave any of these important steps out:

Pick the right rose, plant it properly, and care for it well (you won’t need chemicals).

Know that roses thrive in sun, good soil, drainage, and they need air, more water the first year, and regular mulching.

Basic planting steps:

Amend the soil in the planting bed.
Dig a hole slightly larger and deeper than the root ball or bare roots of the rose.
Add compost to the dirt removed from the planting hole at a ratio of ⅓ compost to ⅔ soil.
Prepare the hole and plant the rose:
- Container rose – backfill hole with compost soil to the bottom of the pot then place plant in the hole and fill in around the root ball. Tamp in well. Soil should be even with natural soil level.
- Bare root rose – create a small mound in the hole and spread the roots over the mound, then backfill with soil compost mixture. Tamp in well. The soil should be even with the natural bed level.
Water well.
Top with 3-inch mulch layer.

Katie’s design proposal for a Veterans Memorial Rose Garden

Identifying Sustainable Roses

The best tool I found on picking disease-resistant (not disease free), sustainable roses was Peter E. Kukilski’s book, Roses Without Chemicals. In this book he lists 150 roses, rates them for disease resistance, flowering and fragrance. And with each of these roses, he also suggests companion plants to accent the unique color and growth of the rose. Peter includes lists of roses by region and climate and has fabulous color pictures throughout.

I would also suggest visiting rose gardens, talking to local rose growers, and asking nursery owners which roses do best in your area.

Following are some resource links and lists on the topic of sustainable rose growing.

May you enjoy years of growing and sharing your very own sustainable roses!

Recipes to Inoculate Your Roses

LAB Serum (also known as Lacto)

Can be applied to plants and soil — get the recipe here

Poop Soup

- Fill a 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of well water or city water aged 2 days.
- Add 1 gallon of FRESH horse poop, stir daily for 1 week.
- Then add 2 cups Calf Manna, 1 cup compost starter, 2 cups good garden soil or fresh compost, 2 tablets of Primal Defense (available at health food stores or online)
- 2 cups of sugar.
- Stir, let brew for 1 day, then sprinkle lightly all over your rose garden, both the plants and the soil.

Websites

Our Water Our World: Roses
ourwaterourworld.org/roses/

Rose Solutions
rosesolutions.net/sus_roses.html

American Rose Trials for Sustainability
americanrosetrialsforsustainability.org

Earth-Kind Rose Trials
aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkindroses/

Help Me Find Roses
helpmefind.com/roses

The New Millennial Rose Garden
millennialrosegarden.com

Paul Zimmerman Roses Forum
paulzimmermanroses.com

Peter Beales Roses Forum
classicroses.co.uk/forum

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