Have you ever wanted to be able to grow your own fruit and vegetables, but have found that you don’t really have the time or aren’t entirely sure what to do, well the fact is that for ecological gardening, you don’t need too much time and you don’t even really need to know what you’re doing. In fact, anyone who has never grown food before may even be at an advantage. If you don’t know which rules to follow, then you just go with the flow, which is exactly the way nature intended.
Many traditional gardeners have a tendency to overwork the soil and use un-natural methods of gaining the results we require, and once in that rut, then it’s very difficult to get out. It may even be fear of the un-known, if you have a method that seems to work, then why change it, even if you may be changing it for the better, there is still that step to take into un-chartered territory. It’s losing that control that is difficult, where as in fact, letting go of that control and letting nature take control letting us work together with nature instead of against it, in the long run actually lets us gain more control by being able to grow more food more efficiently than before. Strange but true!!
By growing you vegetables in an ecological way, you not only save yourself time and effort but also money. Even a small area can provide you and your family with plenty of food and with nature helping you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it leaves you more time to spend doing other things. If this sounds like a good plan then Ecological gardening might be right up your street!
The first thing to do, however is to accept that there will be less for you to do, as you become more of an observer while the garden takes on a continual state of change as it progresses through the seasons. At first it’s hard to have faith that the garden can look after itself, but it’s been doing this kind of thing in nature for thousands of years, and we need to accept that. Sure we need to step in every now and then by providing it with useful plants to fill any gaps that may occur before it decides to put it’s own ideas into play, but once all the gaps are filled then nature will take its course.
Of course the key to a lot of the success of the ecological garden is the filling of the gaps. Not only do weeds have no-where to grow if productive plants take up all the gaps instead, but it can also help with pest control. Many of those flying or crawling pests locate their target by sight or smell. How awkward is it if all you can see is one green mass – how would you know what to aim for especially when this big green mass has so many conflicting smells going on, the chances of finding your target are reduced quite significantly. If I was one of those pests, I’d give up on this area and go and target next doors neatly grown rows of vegetables where I can easily see which plant I want to nibble on!
Also, because of the close proximity of so many different crops, rotation could be a thing of the past. Usually this is done to provide different nutrients and minerals to regenerate after the ground has been planted with one certain type of species. The idea of mixing up the planting arrangement counteracts the depletion of the goodness in the soil, as one species hasn’t been dominating one area. Adding compost to the surface tops up any extra goodness in the soil, should a bare area become available.
Composting is of course a very important part of the ecological garden. It is a way of building valuable top up nutrients for the soil, effectively from existing rubbish – it is the ultimate in recycling. Grow veg, eat veg, add peelings, husks cores etc to the compost heap together with grass clippings, teabags and other things you may well have usually found yourself throwing away, put on the soil ready to grow more veg – an excellent never ending cycle. Instead of consuming the food and throwing away the rest, you are taking that rubbish and putting it to good use and the best part is that it’s actually to your benefit!
I mentioned earlier that this ecological way of gardening also requires a lot less work. Ecological gardens do not require us to go out and hoe or turn over the soil. In fact it’s actually best not to walk on it too much as this causes the soil to compact, so it’s a good idea to install walkways to get around.
Digging the soil actually upsets the soil structure. This affects the way the soil naturally passes on nutrients to plants, and also affects it ability to hold water. Less digging means less watering, and the dense planting arrangement protects the soil from becoming crusty, therefore preventing water run off, again this means less watering.
Every year, traditional gardeners find themselves browsing through their seed magazines, ready to order for the following year, yet more financial outlay. By allowing some plants to go to seed, you can actually build up your own seed store. I’ve always said with tomato plants that the best ones always come from a dropped tomato from the previous year that has seeded itself. It always seems to produce a lot more fruit too. You see – nature at work! Like a rainforest, we should aim to build up as many seeds as we can of many different varieties that end up spread all over the plot, this is because many seeds will not germinate because the spaces are so tightly filled, however, when a space does become available, if we have all these seeds lying dormant, the chances of any empty space being filled by something desirable is pretty good!
So how do you change your existing vegetable garden into an ecological garden – well it’s really quite simple. Firstly lay down some walkways to avoid walking on the beds, then get a good composting system going and apply it to the soil, then simply plant densely and diversely. Sit back and watch nature take control.
