How Easy! Permaculture Gardening, Which Heals the Air, Water, and Soil
The most fertile areas of the Earth are the lands of old growth forests. Soil in the Amazon has been built by nature for how many years? (Until the increase in fires) the air of the "Earth's lungs" was clean. The water at one time, coming from the Andes glaciers, was pristine. Who was tending all of that?
Permaculture farming and gardening, using nature's principles, helps to restore these conditions. While nature works slower than a rototiller, it is so much easier and even more time effective in the long run than the typical modern methods.
1) To start, plan ahead. Make a map of your land and record where the sun hits for lengthier times of the day. Also watch for where water tends to run and pool. Under the outer rim of treetops make good garden spots if they are sunny, because water will drip into your plants from the trees.
2) If the sunny areas are covered with grass, simply design the shapes you want for your gardens or plantings, leaving room around or through them for walking, and cover the ground with cardboard. Printed-upon cardboard is fine; the ink is soy-based. Even Amazon's tape is 100% recyclable and compostable, though shipping labels are not. Cover the cardboard with a thick layer of woodchips and wait... Depending on conditions, time will create your grass-free garden patch.
3) In the meantime, you can trim out your patch with rocks or brick, and you will want a small ditch surrounding it to keep grass from creeping in. It will also help to hold water, which will seep into the garden.
4) When the soil under the woodchips is ready, you can plant. Annual leafy vegetables like tomatoes and lettuce will need a good greens compost (creating a bacterial dominated soil) under the woodchips (which will still be needed as mulch.) What will you plant?
5) In areas beyond your kitchen vegetable patch, choose a fruit tree to plant which is successful in your region and which fruit you know you will enjoy. Don't get exotic at first; you want to be happy with your choice and make this a success. Then choose three berry bushes, which you will plant around the tree at a distance of two feet each from it. No greens compost is wanted here. The tree and bush roots need to reach down and become well established, and their soil should be fertilized by decomposing woodchips, which create a fungal soil.
6) Never leave the soil bare, unless you are growing citrus or other desert plants. Plant cover plants such as clover, which will distract and satisfy bunnies that come after your foods (perhaps not entirely), and strawberries. Putting in some garlic will further deter critters from your plants. Some slightly taller plants will shade the ground and protect it from UV rays.
7) Weeds? Most of them are nothing but helpful. You will want to remove poison ivy (never burn this!) and strangling dogweed, and keep grass out. The rest will help your garden by putting energy from the sun through photosynthesis down into your soil, where microorganisms will collect on the roots of your plants and provide nutrition into your foods. Weeds will not crowd your plants out. If they are blocking sunlight to your sprouts or small plants, cut the tops of the weeds off and drop them onto the woodchips. Chop and drop. Gone to flower, weeds can be beautiful, and some are edible. They will attract pollinating insects.
8) Pests? Don't spray. Encourage a good balance of bugs by waiting through a few years. If you kill off one insect, its natural predators will not become established. This will throw things off, and pests that would like to infect your food crops will be able to take over. Given time, that can be pretty well controlled without sprays. Nature is successful. Follow its lead.
9) Watering: With a thick layer of woodchips, 6 to 10 inches, the soil will stay moist for a long time. Watering will be minimal. Depending on your weather, feel under the woodchips for moisture. When watering is needed, it should be bioactive water from your pond. Ah, your pond. That is a story for another day.
Credit, as usual, to Canadian Permaculture Legacy. Find him on YouTube!
Permaculture farming and gardening, using nature's principles, helps to restore these conditions. While nature works slower than a rototiller, it is so much easier and even more time effective in the long run than the typical modern methods.
1) To start, plan ahead. Make a map of your land and record where the sun hits for lengthier times of the day. Also watch for where water tends to run and pool. Under the outer rim of treetops make good garden spots if they are sunny, because water will drip into your plants from the trees.
2) If the sunny areas are covered with grass, simply design the shapes you want for your gardens or plantings, leaving room around or through them for walking, and cover the ground with cardboard. Printed-upon cardboard is fine; the ink is soy-based. Even Amazon's tape is 100% recyclable and compostable, though shipping labels are not. Cover the cardboard with a thick layer of woodchips and wait... Depending on conditions, time will create your grass-free garden patch.
3) In the meantime, you can trim out your patch with rocks or brick, and you will want a small ditch surrounding it to keep grass from creeping in. It will also help to hold water, which will seep into the garden.
4) When the soil under the woodchips is ready, you can plant. Annual leafy vegetables like tomatoes and lettuce will need a good greens compost (creating a bacterial dominated soil) under the woodchips (which will still be needed as mulch.) What will you plant?
5) In areas beyond your kitchen vegetable patch, choose a fruit tree to plant which is successful in your region and which fruit you know you will enjoy. Don't get exotic at first; you want to be happy with your choice and make this a success. Then choose three berry bushes, which you will plant around the tree at a distance of two feet each from it. No greens compost is wanted here. The tree and bush roots need to reach down and become well established, and their soil should be fertilized by decomposing woodchips, which create a fungal soil.
6) Never leave the soil bare, unless you are growing citrus or other desert plants. Plant cover plants such as clover, which will distract and satisfy bunnies that come after your foods (perhaps not entirely), and strawberries. Putting in some garlic will further deter critters from your plants. Some slightly taller plants will shade the ground and protect it from UV rays.
7) Weeds? Most of them are nothing but helpful. You will want to remove poison ivy (never burn this!) and strangling dogweed, and keep grass out. The rest will help your garden by putting energy from the sun through photosynthesis down into your soil, where microorganisms will collect on the roots of your plants and provide nutrition into your foods. Weeds will not crowd your plants out. If they are blocking sunlight to your sprouts or small plants, cut the tops of the weeds off and drop them onto the woodchips. Chop and drop. Gone to flower, weeds can be beautiful, and some are edible. They will attract pollinating insects.
8) Pests? Don't spray. Encourage a good balance of bugs by waiting through a few years. If you kill off one insect, its natural predators will not become established. This will throw things off, and pests that would like to infect your food crops will be able to take over. Given time, that can be pretty well controlled without sprays. Nature is successful. Follow its lead.
9) Watering: With a thick layer of woodchips, 6 to 10 inches, the soil will stay moist for a long time. Watering will be minimal. Depending on your weather, feel under the woodchips for moisture. When watering is needed, it should be bioactive water from your pond. Ah, your pond. That is a story for another day.
Credit, as usual, to Canadian Permaculture Legacy. Find him on YouTube!
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