My head is spinning from class tonight which left me wishing I hadn’t ditched so many of my high school biology classes.

Our instructor for the evening, Jacqueline Kowalski came down from the Cuyahoga County Extension (that’s up near Cleveland from folks out of state) to give us a very quick and dirty introduction to plant science and soil quality. The three hours flew by as we worked through learning activities, like the following vegetable quiz, and listened to Jackie run through a ton of information. Lots of the terms and concepts were familiar, but I definitely walked away with a list of things I need to learn more about.

[For those of you trying this at home, the samples were beets, carrots, onions, garlic, spinach, tomato, potato, and  asparagus.]

I really enjoyed the discussion of soil and can’t wait for the ground to thaw so we can have ours tested to learn what we are really working with. The chart following chart shows the general makeup of viable soil. Seeing that 25% is air really helped me understand why you shouldn’t walk on your garden beds. I’ll be showing it to the kids for sure! I also hope to conduct a “shake test” with them to explore the makeup of our soil. See how it’s done at Far Out Flora, and watch for our results this spring.