Organic Gardening

The Problem with Traditional Vegetable Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Rosema) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 05:30:00 +0000

Traditional vegetable gardens require an enormous amount of hard work and attention - weeding, feeding and strict planting schedules. There is also the problem of seasonality, allowing beds to rest during the cooler months producing nothing at all. Then we are told to plant green manure crops, add inorganic fertilizers and chemicals to adjust imbalanced soils. It takes a lot of time, dedication and a year-round commitment to grow your own food the traditional way.
But does it really need to be that difficult?
Let me ask you this question. Does a forest need to think how to grow? Does its soil need to be turned every season? Does someone come along every so often and plant seeds or take pH tests? Does it get weeded or sprayed with toxic chemicals?
Of course not!
Traditional vegetable gardening techniques are focused on problems. Have you noticed that gardening books are full of ways to fix problems? I was a traditional gardener for many years and I found that the solution to most problems simply caused a new set of problems. In other words, the problem with problems is that problems create more problems.
Let’s take a look at a common traditional gardening practice and I will show you how a single problem can escalate into a whole host of problems.
Imagine a traditional vegetable garden, planted with rows of various vegetables. There are fairly large bare patches between the vegetables. To a traditional gardener, a bare patch is just a bare patch. But to an ecologist, a bare patch is an empty niche space. An empty niche space is simply an invitation for new life forms to take up residency. Nature does not tolerate empty niche spaces and the most successful niche space fillers are weeds. That’s what a weed is in ecological terms - a niche space filler. Weeds are very good colonizing plants. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be called weeds.
Now back to our story. Weeds will grow in the empty niche spaces. Quite often there are too many weeds to pick out individually, so the traditional gardener uses a hoe to turn them into the soil. I have read in many gardening books, even organic gardening books, that your hoe is your best friend. So the message we are getting is that using a hoe is the solution to a problem.
However, I would like to show you how using a hoe actually creates a new set of problems. Firstly, turning soil excites weed seeds, creating a new explosion of weeds. And secondly, turning soil upsets the soil ecology. The top layer of soil is generally dry and structureless. By turning it, you are placing deeper structured soil on the surface and putting the structureless soil underneath. Over time, the band of structureless soil widens. Structureless soil has far less moisture holding capacity, so the garden now needs more water to keep the plants alive.
In addition to this problem, structureless soil cannot pass its nutrients onto the plants as effectively. The garden now also needs the addition of fertilisers. Many fertilisers kill the soil biology which is very important in building soil structure and plant nutrient availability. The soil will eventually turn into a dead substance that doesn’t have the correct balance of nutrients to grow fully developed foods. The foods will actually lack vitamins and minerals. This problem has already occurred in modern-day agriculture. Dr Tim Lobstein, Director of the Food Commission said. "… today's agriculture does not allow the soil to enrich itself, but depends on chemical fertilisers that don't replace the wide variety of nutrients plants and humans need." Over the past 60 years commercially grown foods have experienced a significant reduction in nutrient and mineral content.
Can you see how we started with the problem of weeds, but ended up with the new problems of lower water-holding capacity and infertile soils. And eventually, we have the potentially serious problem of growing food with low nutrient content. Traditional gardening techniques only ever strive to fix the symptom and not the cause.
However, there is a solution! We must use a technique that combines pest ecology, plant ecology, soil ecology and crop management into a method that addresses the causes of these problems. This technique must be efficient enough to be economically viable. It also needs to be able to produce enough food, per given area, to compete against traditional techniques.
I have been testing an ecologically-based method of growing food for several years. This method uses zero tillage, zero chemicals, has minimal weeds and requires a fraction of the physical attention (when compared to traditional vegetable gardening). It also produces several times more, per given area, and provides food every single day of the year.
My ecologically-based garden mimics nature in such a way that the garden looks and acts like a natural ecosystem. Succession layering of plants (just as we see in natural ecosystems) offers natural pest management. It also naturally eliminates the need for crop rotation, resting beds or green manure crops. Soil management is addressed in a natural way, and the result is that the soil’s structure and fertility get richer and richer, year after year. Another benefit of this method is automatic regeneration through self-seeding. This occurs naturally as dormant seeds germinate; filling empty niche spaces with desirable plants, and not weeds.
Unfortunately, the biggest challenge this method faces is convincing traditional gardeners of its benefits. Like many industries, the gardening industry gets stuck in doing things a certain way. The ecologically-based method requires such little human intervention that, in my opinion, many people will get frustrated with the lack of needing to control what’s happening. Naturally people love to take control of their lives, but with this method you are allowing nature to take the reins. It’s a test of faith in very simple natural laws. However, in my experience these natural laws are 100% reliable.
Another reason that traditional gardeners may not like this method is that it takes away all the mysticism of being an expert. You see, this method is so simple that any person, anywhere in the world, under any conditions, can do it. And for a veteran gardener it can actually be quite threatening when an embarrassingly simple solution comes along.
I have no doubt that this is the way we will be growing food in the future. It’s just commonsense. Why wouldn’t we use a method that produces many times more food with a fraction of the effort? I know it will take a little while to convince people that growing food is actually very instinctual and straightforward, but with persistence and proper explanation, people will embrace this method.
Why? Because sanity always prevails…
…eventually!
Jonathan White is an Environmental Scientist and the founder of the Food4Wealth Method. For more information see www.Food4Wealth.com

Ecological Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Rosema) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 05:34:00 +0000

High yielding, low maintenance vegetable gardening that’s perfect for our modern-day lifestyle

When we think of organic gardening and permaculture we tend to conjure up images of bearded warriors dressed in overalls who dedicate their lives to working long days in their vegetable plots. Whilst this may be a wonderful way to live your life, it doesn’t suit the average suburbanite with a full-time job and a hefty mortgage.
Growing food is typically seen as either an art form or damned hard work. It’s no wonder that very few people produce enough food to feed their family. But what if a technique came along that was so easy and so prolific that even the busiest corporate executive could grow a significant portion of their family’s food in less time than it takes to drive to the shops. Ecological gardening just might be the answer. In my experience, it’s the ultimate modern-day convenience vegetable plot.
An ecological garden is an ecosystem made up of edible plants, and it behaves in exactly the same way as a natural habitat. Over time, you become more of an observer than a gardener as you watch Mother Nature do most of the work.
The wonderful thing about nature is that she works tirelessly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Nature follows very simple laws and works in the same way, on any system, anywhere in the world. To understand ecological gardening, observing natural ecosystems can provide us with the answers we need. A natural ecosystem is made up of thousands of living and non-living components all coexisting in a given area. Each living component occupies its own niche space and the role of the niche space is very important to understand when creating an ecological garden.
Let’s look at an example. Imagine a giant rainforest tree crashing to the ground after standing tall for hundreds of years. Such a large tree would have filled an enormous niche space. Lying in the soil, hundreds of dormant seeds spring to life, desperately fighting for their opportunity to occupy the best real estate in the forest - the empty niche space. The niche space is quickly filled and harmony is restored.
When we look at a traditional vegetable garden with this type of insight, what we see is a very unnatural system. There is very little diversity and a lot of empty niche spaces. Nature enforces her will on vegetable gardens in exactly the same way she does a rainforest, and this means that empty niches spaces will be filled as quickly as possible. However, in a traditional vegetable garden there are no desirable seeds waiting to fill the niches spaces, so weeds fill them instead.
The solution to this problem is to create a garden that has tightly filled niche spaces so that weeds don’t have any opportunities. We can achieve this by using a planting arrangement that mimics a natural ecosystem. This type of planting arrangement also creates a range of highly protected micro-climates. This ideal growing environment causes your plants to last much longer. Greens don’t bolt to seed as soon as a hot spell hits and cold sensitive plants are more protected as well. The planting arrangement also creates a natural form of pest management.
Managing an ecological garden is different to managing a traditional vegetable garden. With an ecological garden, there is far less to do. As you become the observer and allow nature to take over as head gardener, you will notice that the garden is in a continual state of gentle change, just like a natural ecosystem. It can be difficult for the traditional gardener to stand back and observe, as many of us instinctively like to control things. This style of gardening calls for a great deal of faith in natural laws.
Absolutely everyone from farmers to inner-city townhouse dwellers can create an ecological garden. It may seem strange, but if you have never grown food before then you are, in some ways, at an advantage. Like all industries, the gardening industry can get stuck in doing things a certain way and most seasoned gardeners will inevitably over-work the garden. As a species, human beings prospered when we learnt to cultivate food using tilling and other traditional agricultural methods, so it’s difficult to turn back to where we came from - nature. It might even feel like a step in the wrong direction. But if we can let go of our need to control every living thing on the planet, and start to work with nature, we actually gain more control by being able to grow food more efficiently than ever before. It’s a paradox - but it works!
Growing food is not hard work, especially when you have nature helping you 24/7. A small area can provide you with a bounty of food, saving your family thousands of dollars per year. Most of us don’t have much time to spend in the garden, including me. I only invest around eight hours per year to growing my food, and although I live on a small farm, I only use a space of around 6m x 6m. That’s an area that could fit into many suburban backyards several times over. The most wonderful thing about this method is that I know I can ignore my vegetable garden for months and it won’t miss a beat. So, if you believe growing food is only for tough, bearded warriors with a lot of time - think again. Ecological gardening could be just the thing for you.

ECO-Organic Vegetable Gardening Is It Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Rosema) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:03:00 +0000

We all know how much hard work there is in growing vegetables - digging, weeding, crop rotation, watering, fertilizing, planting winter crops, resting beds, spraying pests and weeds - the list goes on and on. So imagine a vegetable garden that didn’t need any of these things. Imagine a garden that never had pests, never needed digging, didn’t need to be rested in winter, had no need for crop rotation, had virtually no weeds, needed very little water and virtually looked after itself. But to top all that off, this garden produces many times more than a traditional vegetable garden and regenerates itself year after year, all by itself.
Surely, that would be magic!

How could a vegetable garden like this exist? Easily! The answer is in nature. Natural ecosystems are very healthy and diverse and don’t require any human interference. If we are able to take the same natural laws that are found in nature and apply them to our garden, we are able to reproduce the same results. And that’s exactly what the Food4Wealth method has done.
The Food4Wealth method is based on science. It follows very sound ecological principles. It’s a way of setting up a natural ecosystem using edible plants, and it uses the types of plants we all like to eat. The special planting arrangement mimics nature so the same interdependent relationships between the living components exist. These relationships are mutually beneficial for the various components, so the vegetable garden actually runs all by itself.
The people in the family who own the Food4Wealth plot are actually one of the important living components. They perform a similar task to a grazing animal in a natural ecosystem. The Food4Wealth plot actually benefits from regular harvesting, just as a natural ecosystem benefits from regular grazing. These plots are so prolific, that they need almost daily harvesting. Regular harvesting maintains the ideal vegetation balance required to run the garden like a natural ecosystem. It’s the ultimate win win situation. Harvesting is good for the people, but it’s also good for the garden.
The biggest challenge that faces modern agricultural practices is to incorporate pest ecology, plant ecology, soil ecology and crop management into a method that is reliable and efficient. And until now, that has never been achieved. The Food4Wealth method naturally combines all of these factors without any effort. You see, nature has had these things under control for millions of years. It’s only humans who have made things more complicated.
But the path is now clear, because Food4Wealth has laid the foundations for a healthier, more efficient and reliable way to grow food. It’s a simple method that sets things up as nature intended, so that problems simply don’t exist.
So, to answer the question - is it magic?
No, it isn’t magic, but it sure feels like it.

Ecological Gardening- what is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Rosema) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:43:00 +0000

The term Ecological Gardening seems to be gaining popularity. But what is it? My experience with Ecological Gardening started many years ago. You see, I have always been a fence sitter. As a teenager I could never make my mind up whether I wanted to be a horticulturist or an environmental scientist. And sometimes I’m still a little unsure!
Fortunately, I have been able to gain qualifications in both. My specialty is in growing food using ecological principles. But I’m not talking about some sort of alternative hippie technique. I’m talking about sound scientific principles.
In my experience, the study of natural ecosystems will reveal everything we need to know about growing food. Natural ecosystems are generally diverse and there are a number of intricate interdependent relationships occurring between the living and non-living components at any given time. Put simply, each component relies and benefits from its interaction with other components. They fuel up on each other, causing the system to be able to sustain itself. If one part of the system gets ‘out of whack’, the whole system is affected.
When studying a natural ecosystem, such as a diverse pristine rainforest we find that there are many living components co-existing in a given area. Each of these components occupies a niche space. If a component, let’s say a plant, is removed by an animal eating it, we are left with an empty niche. An empty niche provides an opportunity for another life form to fill the space. In natural ecosystems, nature does not tolerate empty niche spaces. Once the niche becomes available, there will be a whole host of willing opportunists ready to fill that space. Dormant seeds, sometimes decades old, will spring to life and quickly try to occupy it.
The same thing happens when we are trying to grow food. In any agricultural practice, such as a vegetable garden, there are always empty niche spaces. And remember, nature doesn’t tolerate empty niche spaces. So weeds will try to fill the empty niche spaces. Weeds are very good niche space fillers. They are the ultimate colonizing plants. So as we can see there is no difference in the way nature works, whether it is in a pristine natural ecosystem or a vegetable garden.
Ecological Gardening aims to create a system where nature works for us, and not against us. It is actually quite easy to have a weed-free vegetable garden. You simply do one of two things. Firstly, you avoid having empty niche spaces. And secondly, you make sure there is something desirable to fill niche spaces, should they become available. That’s just one simple example, but Ecological Gardening can easily prevent a number of problems from ever arising.
My experience with Ecological Gardening has been phenomenal. I have been able to combine natural weed management, soil ecology, pest ecology and crop management into a very simple and easy method. In fact, I have been able to create a garden that requires very little attention and produces far more than a traditional vegetable garden, simply by applying sound scientific principles. And from the incredible results that I have achieved, I can say, with absolute certainty, that Ecological Gardening is the way we will be producing food in the future.
Jonathan White is an Environmental Scientist and the founder of the Food4Wealth Method. For more information see www.Food4Wealth.com