Soil Over Time: Strategies & Assessments for Healthy Gardens

Are you looking to improve your landscaping and gardening while understanding how soils and landscapes change over time? This hands-on workshop helps professionals and home gardeners connect management decisions to measurable changes in soil health, ecosystem function, and landscape resilience.

Participants will explore the history of managed spaces, assess soils across three plots (baseline, 1 year, and 4 years after management), and engage in activities such as:

• Evaluating soil structure and texture
• Measuring infiltration and compaction
• Conducting slake tests for aggregate stability
• Comparing microbial and soil health data

Using real measurements, we’ll explore how practices affect water movement, nutrient cycling, carbon storage, erosion resistance, and plant health. Attendees will gain practical, data-driven tools to improve soils and demonstrate long-term value.