Freeway Estates Community Orchard

At Freeway Estates Community Orchard, organic matter (much of it composted on site) has been the only food they have supplied their orchard trees and shrubs over the last six years. "Plants put out sugars in their root zones to attract the critters they most desire. Early succession plants, like weeds, desire soil with more bacteria. Late succession plants, such as deciduous and conifer trees, prefer fungal dominated soils.  When we make our compost, the types of inputs we use will determine whether the compost will also be bacterial or fungal dominated," write Ruth Callard in a recent blogpost, "How do we test the characteristics of our compost? We can put the finished product under the microscope and actually count how many bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes we have and then convert the counts to biomass." Heavy metals in the soil is always a concern when gardening so close to a freeway, but the community gardeners concerns were relieved after Freeway Estates Community Orchard tested the soil and found that lead levels fell well below EPA standards.

Do you have stories of gardening or volunteering at Freeway Estates Community Orchard?  Include the here by sharing with Melissa.Tatro@kingcd.org.