The Livermore-Amador Valley Garden Club is inviting everyone who loves gardening and wants to improve their soil through environmentally sound gardening practices to the next meeting.

The speaker will be Michael Wittman, founder of Blue Sky Biochar, a firm promoting sustainable soil health and the means to make it happen. He will talk about custom composting, worm castings, complex rock dust blend and mycorrhizae.

Wittman's own edible garden is a laboratory for what he teaches, including rainwater harvesting, composting, making biochar and concocting soil-improving mixtures. He has influenced municipal planting practices in his home city of Thousand Oaks, resulting in not only better plant viability but reduced water and chemical input use.

He also offers a free online course, which can be found on the Blue Sky Biochar Facebook page.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 in the multipurpose room of Alisal Elementary School, 1454 Santa Rita Road. For more information, visit www.lavgc.org.