Last June 28-30, I and my colleague Alice Ambler went to the Permaculture Gathering Scotland to do a soil experiment, soil Ph test, as well as talk about GROW Observatory. It was for the Permaculture Scotland gathering at Rubha Phoil, Isle of Skye.
I stood in for my boss, Naomi, who could not make it that day. I assisted Alice in the workshops and the talk. At 10:00 on the 29th, we introduced participants to GROW, asked them to fill out their planting calendars, and talked about what polyculture they thought was best for the changing climate.
In the afternoon, we did an experiment with different types of soil to make participants figure out what type of soil they had at home. The best type of soil for growing vegetables is loam.
We then asked them to do a PH test. The PH test can also be done at home with simple test kits. Soil acidity or alkalinity also determines what kind of plants you can grow. A PH of 6.1-7.0 is usually best for general purpose gardens.
I did an Instagram live of the experiment and the pH testing and we had 18 viewers! I’m quite happy about it as that was more participants than we had in the actual event. It was my first time to assist in a science experiment and it was fun! The Isle of Skye was also very pretty, but that’s for another blog post.
Renee Karunungan 