We had an amazing meeting in January with Norma Ritchie, who talked about Growing Real Organic Food in Living Soil in the ground and in containers. We learned how microbes can purify our soil of toxic chemicals. She’s a Certified Soil Advisor and works with closed loop organic systems. 

She started at the Venice Community Gardens with a 6000 square foot lot. They tested the soil and found high levels of lead and arsenic.They dug down a foot and the lab report was even worse! The land had been a railroad yard and had been sprayed with lots of herbicides. They removed all the soil and piled it up in a large hill before installing raised beds and adding new soil. She finally got a road crew working in the neighborhood to take the hill of very toxic soil and put it into a big hole on Washington Blvd. 

This experience started Norma on a journey. Going forward, she needed to find a way to fix this type of soil, rather than having it hauled away. In 2010 she enrolled in the LA Master Gardener program. Then she took a Permaculture course, where she met Elaine Ingham and became a Certified Soil Advisor. She continued to study the Soil Food Web and became a certified Orchardist.

Norma went on to have extensive expertise consulting and setting up systems of healthy growing and composting. She met her husband, Randy Ritchie, who owns Malibu Compost. Together they have started Grow Real Organic,  https://www.growrealorganic.com/, to create the compost immersion program.

Our soil is pretty much toxic everywhere nowadays. We need to test the soil before planting in the ground and use only real organic potting soil in containers. Most of our soil is filled with arsenic, lead, and chemical poisons. For soil testing, Norma recommends using Wallace Labs or Soil Control Labs.

We only need to drench the soil with microbes in compost tea from real organic compost – not powders, liquids, or other quick fixes. Then apply it regularly to feed the soil microbes, feed the plants, stimulate root growth and treat diseases.

To fix your soil: Break up the soil (first time only) and water deeply throughout. Add SLF – 100 one time a week for four weeks. The Fulvic acids flush out the toxins and adds more diversity to the soil. Then make compost tea made from real organic compost you make at home or get Malibu Compost’s Biodynamic non GMO organic compost and apply it twice a week for a month. Find out how to make compost tea: https://www.malibucompost.com/compost-tea

To keep Living Soil in your garden: Top dress all of your beds with 2” of compost and water it in. Do this one time. After that, just add 1” of compost.Continue using compost tea once a month.  For the next season, add 1/16 inch thick amendment and 1” of compost. Use only an organic amendment, like kelp, alfalfa, or fish bone meal. Do not use: bone meal, blood meal, feather meal, cottonseed oil. 

Six Great things about compost tea:

1. It feeds your plants

2. It feeds your soil

3. It mitigates transplant shock

4. It stimulates root growth

5. It wipes out powdery mildew as a foliar spray on tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, roses and cucumbers

6. It’s effective on rust and black spot if leaves are removed and treated immediately.