WORKSHOP SERIES “GARDENING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT”

What makes soil fertile? Which characteristics and conditions play a role, and how can we influence them? We use easily determined parameters such as pH value, soil type or humus content to determine the fertility of your soil.

Each soil has its own features, such as grain size composition and density, which determine the water content. We use simple experiments and measuring methods (such as humidity sensors, ring infiltrometers) to show you how different soil types behave. We’ll show experiments you can do at home. You’ll learn valuable tips on how to change your soil’s ability to store water.

Soil is the second-largest storage of carbon, after our oceans. In recent decades, however, the soil’s ability to store carbon has been reduced by changes in land use, such as deforestation, peat extraction, and exploitation of resources. The soil stores large quantities of ­carbon in the form of humus. Appropriate measures can influence this ­ability. In this workshop, we’ll look at how this could work in your garden. We study soils taken from up to one metre deep and use a colour scale to determine the humus content in your soil samples. Then we test the carbon content of your soil sample at a follow-up appointment in our lab.

Discover life in the ground from a new perspective as we shrink ourselves to a blip. This workshop uses the virtual reality program “Abenteuer Bodenleben” of the Senckenberg Museum for Natural History Görlitz to bring you eye to eye with the organisms in our soil.  In the practical part of the workshop, you’ll use a microscope to discover and identify the organisms in your soil samples.