The final Coffee and Conversation at the Prince Albert Historical Museum before the summer break was a topic that is top of mind this time of year.
Keri Sapsford of the Backyard and Compost Corner presented ‘Connecting with Nature in your own Backyard: Composting and Gardening with Soil in Mind’ on Sunday afternoon.
Sapsford said she was glad to give a talk on the concept after being invited by the museum.
“I’m happy to be here and excited to share this information with people who may or may not know what it or just want to garden or whatever,” she said.
Sapsford said the discussion would touch on all of her favourite topics. She normally is quite busy with these topics, so Sunday was her first time speaking at the Museum.
“I do presentations almost every year, but I haven’t done one at the museum yet,” she said.
“I’ll be talking about just gardening and gardening with the soil in mind and then a little bit of composting so we can keep our soils healthy,” she added.
Sapsford said that the recent snowfall should help gardens out in the future.
Historical Society board member Troy Parenteau did a presentation on the history of soil in Prince Albert and area before Sapsford’s talk. Sapsford’s talk was wide ranging in topics interesting to gardeners.
“We’ll be talking about the soil food web and just how to keep those guys, the microbes in the soil happy so that they can keep your soil healthy and your plants healthy and talk a little about composting and just the different ways that you can help your soil when you’re putting in your garden,” she explained.
On soil health, Sapsford discussed the five principles of soil health and the soil food web. On the topic of garden design she discussed how to ‘plant your water’ or take advantage of rain water and planting with soil in mind.
She also discussed garden maintenance and harvesting before concluding with a discussion of the importance of composting and methods of composting.
Following a brief coffee break the afternoon concluded with a question and answer though Sapsford did take several questions during the presentation.
The next series of Coffee and Conversation is expected to begin in September with a topic to be determined.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
