Soil: It Is Not Dirt!

West Cook Wild Ones shares information with landowners about how important their landscaping choices are. We share our ideas, skills, and knowledge with others so that their yards can be hospitable to other animals. Working together, we all can ensure the continuation of ecosystem benefits we receive from healthy, beneficial animal and plant populations.Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. Wild Ones is a not-for-profit environmental education and advocacy organization.

West Cook Wild Ones

Get the scoop on soil health for your native garden!

Please join us for our August presentation "Soil: It Is Not Dirt!"Dwayne Anderson, University of Illinois Master Gardener, and Gemini Bhalsod, Educator for University of Illinois Master Gardener Program, will discuss the importance of soil health for ecosystems and native plant gardens.You will learn about soil components, soil inhabitants and why soil should be viewed as a living system. The speakers will explain the soil food web and two key cycles for dynamic, living soil: the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle. They will examine factors required for good soil health and discuss practices you can use to maintain and improve your soil for the benefit of your native plantings.This Zoom presentation is free to the public. Registrants will receive a Zoom link via e-mail two days before the presentation.PresentersDwayne Anderson grew up on a small Great Plains farm where he developed a love for the natural world. When approaching retirement from a career in federal service, he became a Master Gardener with the University of Illinois Extension Service. Dwayne's Master Gardener work focuses on soil management and vegetable gardening. He volunteers intensively with local school and community gardens to educate others and help provide fresh produce to cafeterias and farmer's markets. Dwayne's soil management practices include minimal tilling, crop rotation, cover crops and organic material replenishment.Gemini Bhalsod is a Cook County Horticulture Educator with the University of Illinois Extension Service. Gemini educates youths and adults on plants, gardening and environmental stewardship. She leads and trains Northern Cook County Suburban Master Gardeners who educate the community on high-quality, researched-based horticulture information from composting to native plants.Gemini holds a Masters’ Degree in Crop and Soil Science and a Bachelors’ Degree in Plant and Environmental Biology with a specialization in Science, Technology, and Environmental Public Policy from Michigan State.Her professional affiliations include the American Horticultural Society, the American Society of Horticultural Science and the Environmentalists of Color Network.

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Soil: It Is Not Dirt!

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Soil: It Is Not Dirt!

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