December 2018 DIRT NERD PRODUCE PLACEMENT Always I am coming to terms with the fact that most people think they can’t grow food because of their living situation. If you, beloved reader, are one of... Ian Willson
October 2018 DIRT NERD FERTILIZER: A JAGGED LITTLE PILL I used to not believe in fertilizer. I don’t know where my head was or how I thought plants worked. I had already been working with them for a... Ian Willson
September 2018 DIRT NERD MULCH MULCH MULCH It’s one of those words that you only have to say three times before you question its reality. Mulch. Mulch. Maybe it only takes two times even. No? Mulch. Its... Ian Willson
July 2018 WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOLLYGROVE MARKET? AN INTERVIEW WITH NICOLA KREBILL Hollygrove Market and Farm closed down this past February after falling on hard times and failing to pay rent to the property’s landowner, Bobby Guillot. Since its founding in... Ian Willson
May 2018 DIRT NERD NUANCE OVER NOVELTY: A QUICK COMPOSTING GUIDE Nuance over novelty. I first got the phrase from a podcast and have been internally committed to the notion ever since… well,... Ian Willson
April 2018 DIRT NERD MONOMANIACAL POLYCULTURE Semantics will take you far in this world. Thinking too hard about what plants should go with which other plants will not. Intercropping, companion... Ian Willson
March 2018 DIRT NERD MY LIFE WITH THE EDIBLE FLOWER CULT I came into professional plant care at the tender age of 22, bleary-eyed and hungover most mornings, in an industry that expected me to start... Ian Willson
February 2018 DIRT NERD FREE RANGE PLANTS Plants deserve our respect. Without them we are nothing; we would literally not be here at all. They don’t deserve our respect in an abstract sense,... Ian Willson
December 2017 DIRT NERD SAVE THE BASIL You want to grow basil. If you’ve never grown anything in your life, you want to grow basil. And tomatoes. You want big fat tomatoes and delicious sweet, large... Ian Willson
November 2017 DIRT NERD CUT AND COME AGAIN Plants are resilient organisms, far more capable of surviving and thriving laceration, amputation, decapitation, and all other manner of mangling in a way that... Ian Willson
October 2017 DIRT NERD ROOT DOWN Our dialect is absolutely inundated with analogies and metaphors about roots. The internet taught me that a metaphor that defines one’s perception of reality uses a... Ian Willson
September 2017 DIRT NERD SOW WHAT YOU REAP I envision the natural succession of the food grower to consist of four progressive steps: 1. Plant plants and grow them successfully. 2. Plant seeds and... Ian Willson
