Most communities in the NWT require some amendment to their soil in order to grow productive crops. Remote communities trying to grow food in are faced with the problem of having very limited access to good quality soil. Importing large quantities of soil for gardening is an expensive and inefficient solution. Building on the existing soil in a way that promotes soil fertility and soil life can allow us to grow good food and reduce dependencies on outside resources. Some communities have even started creating soil in larger batches to share within the community. We want to encourage this, and to work toward finding easy, sustainable alternatives to importing soil into our gardens.
The information presented in Building Your Soil: A guide to building sustainable garden soil in the Northwest Territories is meant to encourage sustainable community and backyard gardening in communities of the Northwest Territories. It is meant to be a guide and a reference document, to be used along with the Soil Recipes to create garden soil from locally sourced materials.
Click below to view the guide: