As we all know light exposure is a very important part of garden design. Evaluating the light exposure in the context of the sun’s movement through the sky both daily and season-to-season will help us understand the influences of the sun. With this greater understanding our designs can harness the warming light when we need it and block it out when we don’t.
 The changing angle of the sun in the summer and winter. In the two pictures included, we can see how the sun’s angle changes based on the season we are in. The winter brings low angles which can easily shine into a southern window, while the summer sun is nearly straight overhead.
If we think about skylights in this context we realize that they get direct solar exposure in the summer and just glancing light in the winter. In this way we are increasing heat in the house, and with the window at the ceiling (where the heat goes) we are likely losing heat in the winter, both are the opposite of what we would want from a sustainable design.
Furthermore we know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. People commonly state in a clever, know-it-all way that “you can save on your cooling bills by planting a shade tree on the south side of a house,” but with the sun taking its long flight overhead in the summer, it has little opportunity to shine on the south face of a building. In fact, the south side of a building should be as clear as possible to take advantage of the warming sun which will shine deeply into the house in the winter when we need it the most. If you are worried about the house heating up in the summer you are much better off planting those shade trees to the west and then the east or creating seasonal awnings with vining plants.
Knowing where to place different plants in our designs or how to orient our buildings are good ways of using this info, but it can also be useful in evaluating or designing microclimates in the garden. South facing brick walls or large rocks in the garden can capture the low-riding sun in the winter and help make the garden a more hospitable place for plants that prefer milder climates.
Investigate, experiment and share your comments below!
 The change of the sun's angle and path through the sky - – -
Troy | February 20th, 2011
The following is a list of 10 easy and effective approaches to improving your soil. We have also noted the benefits that each technique provides and included a description of why each one is important.
- Adjust the soil pH to optimal levels (6-7)- general (nutrient availability) – The pH of soil dictates the ability of plants to absorb nutrients. Many plants thrive with a pH between 6 and 7 but acid loving plants, many of which are part of the Ericaeae family, prefer a pH of less than 6. A soil sample can help you identify your current soil pH. Adding lime (to raise the pH) or sulfur (to lower the pH) prior to any planting will make it more effective and easier to adjust the pH.
- Applying compost/aged manure- nitrogen, carbon, moisture, soil biota (bacteria/fungi), general (structure/nutrients) – Compost is an all around great soil amendment. It is decomposed plant and animal materials that have reached a more stable form. Compost adds carbon to the soil to help feed soil life while introducing living microbes of its own. Your soil sample can also help you get an idea of what your current levels of organic matter are. Compost provides a useful place to dispose of yard waste and food scraps while creating an extremely valuable resource. Just remember to mix your greens and browns or just give our friends at Steel City Soils a call!
- Natural mineral fertilizers- general (minerals/nutrients) – Plant, animal, and rock-based amendments can be helpful in adjusting the major soil nutrients in addition to adding micro-nutrients. Rock phosphate, potash, bone meal, blood meal, cottonseed meal, kelp meal, guano, and greensand are some of the options. The amount of adjustment needed will also be determined by the soil test. The different types of amendments provide different major and minor nutrients and it is usually necessary to mix a few. Some of these are mined or a coproduct of the meat industry; keep this in mind so that your gardening practices stay in line with your ethics. A good supplier of these products is Planet Natural.
- After initial incorporation of amendments, no tillage or compaction- general (structure), moisture, soil biota – Initial tilling to incorporate our previously mentioned approaches to soil building and to breakup hard, compacted ground may be necessary, but after that it should be avoided. Tilling can produce a number of negative effects including soil compaction under the tines, excess breakdown of soil carbon, the destruction of soil life (worms and fungus in particular), and the disruption of the soil structure/profile. Compaction of the soil due to stepping on it can also negatively impacts soil health. If tilling is needed to create a nice seedbed, make sure you vary the depth of the tilling year after year and never till when the soil is very wet or very dry.
- Actively aerated compost tea- soil biota (bacteria/fungi) – AACT is an excellent way of introducing a wide variety of microbes and temporarily boosting the overall life of your soil. You can tailor your compost tea to the particular needs of your soil. Compost teas can cause additional depletion of soil carbon by increasing the population of microbes which eat the carbon to grow and reproduce. I would not recommend treating your soil with compost tea more than a couple times a year for this reason, but as an approach to increasing the initial biodiversity of your soil, it is great. Click to read more about AACT and how to make your own brewer or contact our friends at Octopus Organics.
- Deep mulching- carbon, moisture, soil biota (fungi) – Deep mulching is easy and very forgiving. A thick layer of mulch, 3-6″, maintains soil moisture by limiting evaporation and helps to keep the ground relatively cool in the summer and warm in the winter. As the mulch breaks down, carbon and nutrients are released into the soil, just the same as fallen leaves in the forest. The layer of carbon rich mulch also provides a home to fungi which are a critical part of soil development and plant health. Heavy bark or hardwood mulches may be suffocating if they are put on too deep, but rotted hay, straw and leaves all make nice deep mulches.
- Living mulches, Cover-cropping with legumes/deep-rooted plants- nitrogen, carbon, moisture – Living mulches and cover crops help to protect the soil from the drying sun and the pounding rain. They can keep the soil cool and some can help cycle nutrients that would otherwise be locked up in the ground or lost to erosion. Legumes, like peas, beans and clovers, are host to bacteria that collect nitrogen from the air. These can be used in conjunction with your main crops or as a of crop cycling regimen. Deep-rooted plants like some clovers and radishes can help breakup tough clay and rot deep in the ground, adding soil carbon. Some good cover crops include buckwheat, red clover, rye, and hairy vetch. Options for living mulches include nasturtium, white clover and sweet potato vine.
- Biotic innoculants- soil biota (bacteria/fungi), general (structure) – Innoculants is an overarching category which includes compost and compost tea, but this section focuses on commercially available innoculants. Generally purchased as powders or liquids, these formulas provide added diversity to your soil. Innoculants can be bacterial, fungal or both. Often, if planting legumes for the first time, it is important to add the corresponding innoculant so that they may fix nitrogen properly. It should not be necessary to add innoculants on a regular basis so long as you are feeding the soil life. One innoculant we often use is Espoma Bio-Tone Starter Plus.
- Vermicomposting- nitrogen, carbon, soil biota (bacteria) – Worm composting provides an easy, stink-free way of composting indoors. You can easily keep worms under your sink or in the basement, which is especially helpful in winter when outdoor composting becomes much more difficult. Worm poop, called castings, is biologically active, well decomposed organic material. Worm castings are useful for making compost tea, adding to potting mixes or watering down to spread in the garden. They create a very fine material which will help your soil very much like other composts. A worm bin is easy to make and care for. Click here to read about making a stackable worm bin of your own.
- Biochar- carbon, soil biota, general (structure) – For those of you looking for a cutting edge technique, biochar may be your answer. Well, not so cutting edge, biochar was likely used by native peoples of the Amazon several thousand years ago to create extremely rich soils. The “terra preta” created by these cultures was a product of incorporating charcoal and organic matter into the soil. Doing so created good soil structures, increased surface area for microbes, and a high nutrient holding capacity. Natural lump charcoal is probably the most convenient and widely available form we can get today. It is helpful to smash it up into smaller pieces. Biochar can be used as a light mulch or incorporated into the soil, but it is important to first soak the charcoal in a nutrient rich solution such as manure or compost leachate (watered down compost) so the carbon doesn’t pull nutrients out of your soil (this is the same stuff water filters are made of after all). Now pat yourself on the back because you just helped sequester some carbon.
Well, thats it! Go out there and grow some soil and, as always, feel free to comment below.
-Troy
Troy | February 12th, 2011
Andrea and I recently decided to put in a wood stove but as easy as that sounds, a lot of work went into installing the stove and ensuring the fireplace surround would be appropriate. The following pictures show you some of the process we went through.
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 Fireplace before The fireplace before refacing and installing the wood stove.
 Fireplace before close-up A close-up of the fireplace before refacing and installing the wood stove.
 Partially re-tiled fireplace The floor tiles are almost completed while the thinset mortar dries on the vertical surface.
 Vertical tiling Tiling the vertical surface of the fireplace.
 Laying out tiles It helps to lay out the tiles prior to the installation, especially for the vertical surface.
 Refaced fireplace The fireplace after being refaced with slate.
 Fireplace bricks removed Some fireplace bricks and the damper were removed to fit the 6" flexible liner.
 Chimney liner installation The stainless steel chimney liner being installed.
 Finished Fireplace The fireplace with a new slate face and a soapstone wood stove from the Woodstock Soapstone Company.
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We had a fireplace that had once been wood-burning, I knew this because there was an old damper and a clean-out shoot below, but had been first converted to gas-burning logs and finally to a nonfunctional fireplace. Once I broke the seal on the old damper and took a look up the chimney, I knew it was going to be possible to add a stainless steel liner and hookup a wood stove. I could tell because it was a straight flue (I could see sky when looking up the chimney) and the existing terracotta tile was in good shape.
The most time consuming part of installing the wood stove was refacing the fireplace surround. We wanted to make it all look better but also needed to extend the fireproof base so that we would be following building codes for wood stoves. In the pictures above you can see how we simply coated the old bricks with thinset mortar to smooth out the surface so it would be appropriate for tiling. What you can’t see in these pictures is how we built up the base by laying down a bed of thinset and putting a cut-t0-fit piece of cement board down, screwing it against the floor.
We were excited about the slate because it looks great, it’s natural, it was pretty cheap and it adds to the functionality of the overall system. The slate helps by adding thermal mass, which you may have read about in my previous blog about rocks in the garden. In this case, the slate adds bulk which can buffer the heat of the stove, absorbing the heat when stove is really cooking and giving off heat even after the fire is out. In fact, this is also why our stove is made out of two inches of soapstone all around.
Once we finished the tile and grout, we had the chimney guys come drop a liner down the chimney. We had our friend, Dave, fabricate an angle iron base-surround which was slightly taller than the base so that it provides a metal lip, keeping ashes and embers from spilling out on to our wood floors. The next step was getting the stove into place and hooking up the stovepipe. When picking a stove, make sure it is an EPA certified wood stove. Our stove has a catalyst which helps get more heat out of the wood and reduce emissions.
There is a lot to this and I left out a lot of details, but I hope you can get an idea of whats involved with installing a wood stove. It is a great way to start moving to a more local fuel for heating your house, which is, arguably, better for the environment.
If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to comment below.
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February 1-4, Permaculture at Pa Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) in State College.
February 18 - May 6, Phipps offers second annual Permaculture design Cerrtificate (PDC) course at the Phipps Garden Center in Mellon Park.
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