SOIL HORIZON The garden is typically presented as an epidermis of green—flowers, plants, and grasses—forming an ornamental surface. Yet a garden or landscape is much more than its surface. There is an unseen thickness, a complex stratification of dirt and soil, which sustains all garden surface activity. Dirt and soil are typically seen as catalysts for gardens or agriculture; yet in many ways, there is as much variety below the surface as there is above. The installation presents the medium soil less as an agent for gardening and more as the garden itself.
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Soil Horizons Canada, and in particular Québec, is composed of a wide variety of soil types with diverse colours, textures, densities and chemical make-up, and hence, diverse soil horizons. A soil horizon is a layer within a soil profile differentiated by chemical and physical characteristics. The definitions of taxa in the Canadian system are based mainly on the kinds, degree of development, and the sequence of soil horizons and other layers in pedons. Therefore, the clear definition and designation of soil horizons and other layers are basic to soil classification. A soil horizon is a layer of mineral or organic soil material approximately parallel to the land surface that has characteristics altered by processes of soil formation. It differs from adjacent horizons in chemical, biological, or mineralogical composition. In this project, soil samples were collected as cubes of earth, revealing the wide diversity of soil sections across the Québec region.
Soil Collection Working with soil specialists from Québec City, collection points were identified.The Jardins de Métis then engaged in discussions with land owners for permission to extract the soil samples from their land. A one metre deep trench was dug around each side of a 60 x 90cm cube of soil. Each side was shored up with sheets of plexiglas to prevent the collapse of the soil and to maintain the composition and horizons of the soil. The plexiglas box was then carefully lifted by hoist out of the ground. The soil samples were placed in a customised shipping crate, marked and transported to the Métis Festival site, making the extraction process part of the garden itself. The crates were opened upon arrival at the garden and revealed each sample section of soil, becoming part of the narrative of how the garden was collected and assembled. The unfolded crate walls displayed information about the soils including their location, type and characteristics. n
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