Organic Vegetable Gardening Compost: Part 2 Noontime Talks Phillippi Farmhouse Market Robert Kluson Ag/NR Extension Agent UF/IFAS Sarasota County Extension OUTLINE Overview of topics of noontime talks on organic vegetable gardening Introduction to organic vegetable gardening Advanced and new techniques of compost making and use Topics of Noontime Talks for Organic Vegetable Gardening • Introduction (Nov 23, 2011) • Edible Flowers (Dec 7, 2011) • Container Gardening (Dec 21, 2011) • Worm Composting (Jan 4, 2012) • Frost Protection (Jan 11, 2012) • Composting – Part 1 (Jan 25, 2012) • Transplants (Feb 8,2012) Topics of Noontime Talks for Organic Vegetable Gardening • Composting – Part 2 (Feb 22, 2012) • Irrigation (March 14, 2012) • Beneficial Insects (March 28, 2012) • Companion Planting (April 11, 2012) • Cover crops (April 22, 2012) Goals for Noontime Talks on Organic VIengtreotdaubclteio Gn ardening – Food for your freshest nutrition – Food for expanding benefits of backyard vegetable gardening – Food for thought – Food for your soul Approach of Noontime Talks on Organic Vegetable Gardening • Promote the practice of the guidelines in the reference “Vegetable Gardening in Florida” by James M. Stephens. 1999. Univ. of FL, IFAS • Provide background information on the science and principles from agroecology for successful organic vegetable gardening • • Provide additional resources available for successful organic vegetable gardening • Available from UF/IFAS bookstore, see http://ifasbooks.ufl.edu/merchant2/ Also available from your favorite book vender. Agroecosystem Concept • An approach that looks at your vegetable garden as a functional whole of interacting living and non living components, i.e. “whole is more than sum of parts” • A science-based management using models from natural ecosystems Gliessman, S., 1999. Agroecology: Ecological Processes in Sustainable Agriculture Nature Model for Organic Vegetable Gardening