Understanding Your Garden Series

ML Altobelli has 40+ years of experience creating healthy sustainable soils that grow colorful mixed flower and vegetable gardens, healthy environments and happy people.  From the days of dealing with slugs at a retail garden to current projects that integrate top quality veggies into flower gardens, increase food for pollinators early and late in the season and soil development at every turn, ML’s curiosity and practical outlook are driven by her fascination with soils and what can be done to improve them for the sake of the plants and the animals and humans that interact with them. She has collected a BS in Animal Science, multiple certificates from Arnold Arboretum, Green School and others. ML built a fine garden landscaping business (M.L.’s Greenery in Motion) and was a founding member of the Ecological Landscape Alliance. She (and her sister) own Woody End Farm (with ducks, dairy goats, hugelkuture beds and custom growing) and she is currently the chair of her local agricultural commission, runs local training programs and experiments to find ecological and organic solutions that suit each individual site.

Program Description

This season-long gardening program with ML Altobelli was based on the Fabric of Life garden at the Bassett Homestead property in Shelburne, MA. The series started with a recording of ML’s first visit to the garden, where she helped us understand what was going on in the garden and how to take advantage of the conditions that existed while making changes to improve our growing success. ML guided our learning about soil structure and microorganisms and offered concrete recommendations for improving our existing soil conditions. ML also answered questions about nutrients, mulching, planning and soil testing.

This video from our first session is packed with over four decades of knowledge as ML discusses:

• The importance of soil microbes and fungi
• The meaning of soil testing
• Mulching to improve soil health and conserve moisture
• Tips for garden planning
• Crop rotation
• Nutrient availability
• When and how to amend an existing garden
• How to start a new garden.

As an added bonus, she also demonstrates the principles of building a hugelkulture (HK) bed, an innovative raised bed that utilizes fallen trees to create a highly productive, resilient garden.

On a monthly basis throughout the season, ML joined us for four 1 hour virtual visits of the garden. Participants had ample opportunity to ask questions about their own gardens during these information sharing sessions. Our goal is to help you understand how to create a thriving and flourishing garden amidst the challenges that inherently (and naturally) occur.

At the end of the growing season, we hosted an in-person mineral mixing event, where participants cooperatively mixed the components needed to prepare a garden for the next growing season. We also built the first Hugelkulture garden at Fabric of Life and enjoyed an amazing harvest feast.

In addition to these formal program connections, we will be posting updates to our blog about the Fabric of Life garden throughout the season and are excited to hear the story of your garden as well! As a group, we will share our garden experiences and will learn ways to help our gardens be more resilient against pests, disease, compaction, and drought, while providing a bounty of nourishing food and beautiful flowers.

Join Our Gardening Community: Anyone who is interested in learning more about gardening and looking to share their growing experience with other gardeners is invited to join our Facebook group: Garden with Fabric of Life and use the hashtag #GardenWithFOL on Instagram. We hope to foster connection between local gardeners and invite you to join us as we share successes, trouble-shoot failures, and build a virtual community around our shared passion for resilient gardens and nourishing food.

Understanding Your Garden Series Dates:

• May 1, 2021: Recording: Fabric of Life Garden Walkabout
• June 2, 2021 from 7-8PM EST: 1 Hour Virtual Session: Planting the Fabric of Life Garden
• July 7, 2021 from 7-8PM EST: 1 Hour Virtual Session: Garden Updates
• August 4, 2021 from 7-8PM EST: 1 Hour Virtual Session: Diseases, Pests and Plant Stress
• September 1, 2021 from 7-8PM EST: 1 Hour Virtual Session: End of Growing Season Decisions
• BONUS SESSION: October 6, 2021 from 7-8PM EST: 1 Hour Virtual Session: Putting Your Garden to Bed
• October 23, 2021 from 9:30AM – 12:30PM EST: 3-Hour In Person Session: Mineral Mixing Day & Harvest Feast, PLUS: Starting a Hugelkulture bed

Please contact us with any questions at office@fabric-of-life.org.

We are offering this Understanding Your Garden Series at no charge for a limited time. We hope you will find the information valuable and join us as we build the connections and success of our local gardening community!