Lab #4 Dirt aka Soil

In this lab we first spent time in the community based garden. It was really cool because the garden had all kinds of food growing in it including peppers, okra, lima beans, lettuce, eggplant, beans and herbs. I love fresh vegitables and it reminded me of my moms own container garden. All the gardens were in boxes because the planters were concerned about the levels of lead the soil may have in it due to old houses that rested on the land 30-50 years ago.

A community based garden.

We met Mark Vanderhoek who helped get Macon Roots started, which "is non-profit established in 2010 to promote a sustainable food system in Macon and Middle Georgia by celebrating the local food cultures, supporting food and garden education programs, creating networking opportunities in the local food system, and increasing availability of locally grown food for all Middle Georgians," (as stated on their website->.Macon Roots). Mark is also working with creating composts with local businesses such as Jittery Joes and Francars, another cool way to get the community involved in a positive outlet. I found the idea of a community based garden really interesting and a really cool idea of how to bring a community together and educate them on the science of growing their own food. It is something I would definitly like to become a part of in the future. Website to help one start up a community garden

Mark Vanderhoek.

A community based garden short clip.

During the lab we also ysed a soil dichtomous key to discover the type of soil we found in the area. The soil we found was actually Loamy sand, so we did not get very far down on the flow chart.

This is the chart that we used to identify the soil

We also used a Sieves to sift the fine particles of the soil through and seperate them. The finer particles like those of clay sifted further to the bottom of the sieves due to their fine matter.

This is what the a sieve looks like.

In class we also learned tha there are 12 soil orders of the world. Here is a chart listing of all them. 

Type	Description	Type	Description
Entisols	Little, if any horizon development	Inceptisols	Beginning of horizon development
Aridisols	Soils located in arid climates	Mollisols	Soft, grassland soils
Alfisols	Deciduous forest soils	Spodosols	Acidic, coniferous forest soils
Ultisols	Extensively weathered soils	Oxisols	Extremely weathered, tropical soils
Gelisols	Soils containing permafrost	Histosols	Soils formed in organic material
Andisols	Soil formed in volcanic material	Vertisols	Shrinking and swelling clay soils

One interestng soil type is Ultisols which is found all over the beautiful state of Georgia. Ultisols is commonly known as red clay soils. Ultisols "are strongly leached, acid forest sols with pretty low native fertility. They are usually found in humid temperate and trpoical areas. Ultisols vary in color from purplish-red, to a blindingly bright reddish-orange, to pale yellowish-orange and even some subdued yellowish-brown tones. It usually quite acidic, having a pH level of less than 5. Ultisols usually support very prodcutive forests.

Suborders of Ultisols

• Aquults - Ultisols with a water table at or near the surface for much of the year
• Humults - well-drained Ultisols that have high organic matter content
• Udults - Ultisols of humid climates
• Ustults - Ultisols of semiarid and subhumid climates
• Xerults - temperate Ultisols with very dry summers and moist winters

Maps of the distribution of Utisols:




Ultisols Website

Ultisol.