Shawn Pietrofere and his mother, Mary Pietrofere, faced problems when scaling up their organic gardens in 2020.
There were no local vendors of organic materials or pest control, for starters. Animal feed supplements such as alfalfa meal and oyster shells worked as soil amendments, but other must-haves like organic pest control could only be found in Cape Girardeau or St. Louis. Making those trips was inconvenient, but ordering online was expensive and slow. Fellow gardeners shared similar complaints, and it became evident there was a market for an organic garden supply in Butler County. They took a leap and founded The Dirt Shack in April of 2021.
“We’re an all-organic garden shop, we have a little bit of everything you need for indoor, outdoor gardening,” Shawn said. The Dirt Shack carries supplies for organic gardens of all sizes, from potted houseplants to vegetable patches. They even serve medical cannabis growers. Buying their stock in bulk keeps things more affordable than online orders, and they give customers a discount for bringing their own containers.
“We get all our stuff bulk. We try to Missouri-source all of our supplies as much as possible, and that makes it a lot easier,” Mary explained.
The Dirt Shack’s approach in feeding plants is to feed the soil and microbes first. They source organic compost from Sikeston and worm castings — known as “black gold” by gardeners — from Columbia. They also add these to their own potting soil mixes, along with coconut coir or peat moss for water retention, and pumice, rice hulls and lava rocks for aeration.
Their next step will be manufacturing their own compost and brewing compost teas, which spread the nutrient value of compost across a larger area and are customizable for different gardens and landscaping.
Shawn has found the advantages to organic gardening extend far beyond feeling green.
“From my experience, you get more flavor. There’s also been extensive research... Plants that are grown in a microbial dense soil are more nutritionally dense,” he said.
Established organic gardens also require less effort than ones reliant on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
“A lot of my customers come in and their biggest joy of organic gardening is less work. So that’s another benefit besides the taste and nutrition,” Shawn said.
He noted it takes a few years for gardens to reach this point.
Organic gardens also provide clean eating, which Mary has noticed is especially important to cancer patients. In 2020, the CDC found Missouri had the 12th highest cancer mortality rate in the nation. They also found Southeast Missouri had average and above-average rates of cancer, particularly lung cancer, in 2016-2020. African Americans bore the highest burden of fatal cases.
“We have little groupings, you can see that there’s a lot of people that have cancer in certain areas in Southeast Missouri,” Mary said. “And so with that, there’s a lot of people looking for cleaner eating. So we want to offer that too, and one of the ways is to get your soil back to a living soil.”
The benefits of organic gardening all come down to microbes. Contrary to popular belief, plants cannot process most nutrients present in the ground on their own. In “living soil,” fungi and microbes first break nutrients down into forms the plants can use. Shawn often speaks to gardeners who believe they have poor soil, when really microbes are what is missing.
“They form symbiotic relationships with plant roots. Plants put out exudates that feed the microbes, the microbes trade off plant-available nutrients. So a lot of times people don’t have nutrient deficiencies in their gardens. They have microbial deficiencies,” he said.
The Pietroferes are always eager to educate and give advice for gardening projects, especially now that spring has rolled around. This growing season’s fad is raised garden beds. Shawn recommends starting earlier rather than later so the microbes have time to get established. Placing a bed in fall is ideal, but he noted by starting in the spring, “at least you get some use out of it” before the following year.
Shawn also recommends first-time gardeners start small by growing one veggie they like. He has seen ambitious gardeners manage beautiful gardens between April and June, only to burn out in July and August when the weather is hot, weeds have sprung up and everything is ready to harvest.
“Definitely start with something you enjoy. And start small. You know, there’s nothing wrong with starting small,” he said. “You will learn, you will make mistakes and you will learn from them no matter what.”
In addition to gardening supplies and soil blends, The Dirt Shack sells a growing variety of houseplants and organic seeds.
The Dirt Shack is located at 508 Pine St. in Poplar Bluff. More information can be found at thedirtshack.com or The Dirt Shack Facebook page.