pepper2.0
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I don't read the rules I just do me and assume if it isn't explicit then it's all good. I would enjoy hearing your gardening stories, that is what this forum is all about
Has anyone ever planted a "natural" garden? How did it work for you?
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I don't read the rules I just do me and assume if it isn't explicit then it's all good. I would enjoy hearing your gardening stories, that is what this forum is all about
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Post away!! I eagerly await.
I don't read the rules I just do me and assume if it isn't explicit then it's all good. I would enjoy hearing your gardening stories, that is what this forum is all about
Thanks guys.
@Meadowlark, here is the start!
I've been doing natural gardening on some level now for about seven years. I started after reading an article online. The article I read discussed the benefits for the soil, bugs, plants, animals, environment, and human health.
I wasn't sure how it would work the first year or how much time I wanted to dedicate to it. I was sure I would like it. I always like to experiment and try new things. So, I took about 75 square feet of my garden and went to town.
That first year I tried doing some different varieties of cucumbers. They actually did surprisingly well considering it was my first attempt. I learned a lot that first year, too. One thing I learned was to keep the weeds short around the plant while it's starting off and developing. If you don't the weeds will overtake the young sprouts and leave you with nothing.
I showed my natural garden to few people and they thought I was crazy!
They said, "That won't produce anything worthwhile in a 1000 years."
I didn't care, I went ahead with it. I learned, too, that the weeds really help to attract beneficial bugs, lady bugs, native pollinators, etc.
I had four cucumber plants that made it to production age. I think I harvested about 25lbs from all four plants by the end of the season. I was very surprised by the yield.
I also learned that weeds are good for bringing the nutrients up to the top of the ground, where they are more easily accessed by the garden plants. This is because of the deep root systems. Dandelions, (yeah, those annoying yellow things that grow in your yard and almost everyone hates) are especially good at this because they have one of the deepest root systems out if any weed.
I left the dandelions grow in my natural garden and I made an interesting observation. The weeds that weren't dandelions, but grew right next to them, were greener and lusher.
I will post more tomorrow when I have some more time. There is so much more I want to share with all of you!
I've been doing natural gardening on some level now for about seven years. I started after reading an article online. The article I read discussed the benefits for the soil, bugs, plants, animals, environment, and human health.
I wasn't sure how it would work the first year or how much time I wanted to dedicate to it. I was sure I would like it. I always like to experiment and try new things. So, I took about 75 square feet of my garden and went to town.
That first year I tried doing some different varieties of cucumbers. They actually did surprisingly well considering it was my first attempt. I learned a lot that first year, too. One thing I learned was to keep the weeds short around the plant while it's starting off and developing. If you don't the weeds will overtake the young sprouts and leave you with nothing.
I showed my natural garden to few people and they thought I was crazy!
They said, "That won't produce anything worthwhile in a 1000 years."
I didn't care, I went ahead with it. I learned, too, that the weeds really help to attract beneficial bugs, lady bugs, native pollinators, etc.
I had four cucumber plants that made it to production age. I think I harvested about 25lbs from all four plants by the end of the season. I was very surprised by the yield.
I also learned that weeds are good for bringing the nutrients up to the top of the ground, where they are more easily accessed by the garden plants. This is because of the deep root systems. Dandelions, (yeah, those annoying yellow things that grow in your yard and almost everyone hates) are especially good at this because they have one of the deepest root systems out if any weed.
I left the dandelions grow in my natural garden and I made an interesting observation. The weeds that weren't dandelions, but grew right next to them, were greener and lusher.
I will post more tomorrow when I have some more time. There is so much more I want to share with all of you!
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You just witnessed the amazing act of Nitrogen fixation in your soil. It is a super powerful garden tool and is the very backbone of my own gardening approach. Dandelions have deep tap roots that reach down and draw up nutrients and when they die and decompose, they release these nutrients back into the soil improving soil fertility and structure.
The use of this powerful yet free tool takes on added utility in approaches such as "cover crops", "chop and drop", and "green manure" application.
There are many "hated" plants that also provide that wonderful service. White clover is one. I see people make huge efforts to get rid of white clover in their lawns. If you observe anything growing where white clover has grown, you will note the same phenomenon you observed with dandelions only even more so.
I love your story and especially love to read your discovery of proven organic gardening techniques like the use of nitrogen fixation.
Some people garden their entire life without ever recognizing the things you are finding. Wonderful, just wonderful.
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Another fundamental tenant of my own gardening approach. You absolutely nailed it...using non-producing plants to aid growing and protecting your producing plants.
This includes a whole range of techniques that people have labeled "companion plants" and "trap plants" and "pollinator attractors".
You may not fully realize it but you are conducting a textbook on what some call organic gardening.
Don't get hung up on what people call it, however, just continue to discover what works and use it to your advantage...that is what it is all about!!
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If there were such a thing as "thread of the year" I would vote for this revival of an old thread as it.
@Meadowlark, @pepper2.0, and @redback thank you for the kind words.
I was wondering if I should start another thread to document my gardening stories, or if I should just keep posting here.
I was wondering if I should start another thread to document my gardening stories, or if I should just keep posting here.
My lawn is full of white clover. I'm also a beekeeper, so I never spray. Worth my bees I also focus on organic non-disruptive methods.
And yes, I have noticed what you are talking about there, too.
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Your choice but as long as your stories relate to natural gardening using this thread is great.
redback
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The idea of clearing the land and then starting to plant your new natural garden has got a problem.
Because bare land has got no plants, or plant roots it is devoid of microbes also, because they feed on the root exudates. In fact, all the deserts of the world could well have been caused by overgrazing stock taking out every last plant.
Theoretically you should begin by planting into a cover crop. Chopping out holes or furrows and planting between the ground covers that you maintain forever.
Last year I heavily top-dressed the corn crop. It was such a successful move that the corn went on producing into the end of autumn. I had no option but to plant the winter broccoli crop between the corn. The broccoli crop was fantastic too. By the end of winter, I stood staring at broccoli that looked as though it had been going to the gym. And nothing had attacked it. I swear it seemed immune to attack it was so stout and dark green.
Just saying - it' possible that we shouldn't be clearing between crops.
Because bare land has got no plants, or plant roots it is devoid of microbes also, because they feed on the root exudates. In fact, all the deserts of the world could well have been caused by overgrazing stock taking out every last plant.
Theoretically you should begin by planting into a cover crop. Chopping out holes or furrows and planting between the ground covers that you maintain forever.
Last year I heavily top-dressed the corn crop. It was such a successful move that the corn went on producing into the end of autumn. I had no option but to plant the winter broccoli crop between the corn. The broccoli crop was fantastic too. By the end of winter, I stood staring at broccoli that looked as though it had been going to the gym. And nothing had attacked it. I swear it seemed immune to attack it was so stout and dark green.
Just saying - it' possible that we shouldn't be clearing between crops.
Now we continue...
2018 was my second year experimenting with natural gardening. I decided since I had such good luck with it the previous year that I would make at least half of my garden natural.
It's worth mentioning here that at this point I was still using some chemical fertilizers and insect killers on select crops.
Anyway, I wanted to definitely do the cucumbers in the natural garden, but I also wanted to try something new. I settled on corn; this plus the cucumbers gave me my half a garden (I love corn!).
I quickly learned that corn was even more of an upkeep than cucumbers. And it was much harder, too. Since I was not exclusively tilling after the plants came up, there was a lot of grass. (The grass comes in with the organic manure I get from my farm.) The grass of course looks like corn, so it was a very time consuming endeavor. Prior to natural gardening I was tilling and hoeing the corn once a week, even when it was young. Since I had switched to natural gardening the only place I was using the tiller on the corn was the outside row. And that was only to keep the neighboring farmer happy. I didn't pull many weeds right down the center of the row figuring they wouldn't do any harm there.
It took several weeks of maintaining the corn patch at this level before I could back off. Once the corn was 4-6 inches tall I left the weeds start to grow more.
As the corn continued to grow I wondered how the yield would be affected not tilling or hoeing. I had nice tall plants after the tassels set in - about 6.5ft. tall stalks - but I still wondered. I knew water wasn't an issue, the rain never sat on top of the ground. Unless it was a hard, fast rain.
I made the observation that most of the weeds that were growing were predominantly lambs and dandelions. I wondered what the lambs quarters meant about soil health. I did some investigating and learned that the lambs quarters meant my soil was nitrogen packed. I had made the same observation the previous year with the cucumber patch.
This made me question three things:
1. Is my soil really that loaded on nitrogen?
2. What was the actual level of nitrogen in the soil?
3. And finally, was this why my corn has always done so good in the past?
I took a sample of my soil in to the extension office to be tested. I found out that my soil was indeed full of nitrogen. I asked if it was surplus, they said there was a little bit extra, but not really enough to worry about.
So, the first week of September comes around. I made a quick walk through the patch and determined that even if the yield was low, there would still be enough for freezing. I set out the next Saturday morning to pick.
As soon as I started picking I realized just how much the corn had produced. At this point I'm obligated to tell you the weather has been very good for growing corn.
The corn produced so much that even after I was done freezing and had had some fresh meals of corn there was still too much out there to waste!
I called out some of my friends and told them to raid the corn patch. They told me they were not going in there, there were too many weeds. They also believed I was fibbing because, "...plants can't grow with that many weeds..."
I told them wait a few minutes and I would be back with some corn. I returned with about a dozen ears, this was all they wanted.
They texted me later that night to say that was the best corn they had ever gotten from me. They wanted to know what my secret was.
"Nothing," I told them.
"???," was the response.
"Nothing. I don't do anything to it. I don't weed it, I don't hoe it, I don't till it, and I definitely don't spray or fertilize it. It's a natural garden."
"Oh, okay sounds like fun."
I'm not sure if they believed me or not, but it was the truth.
Another interesting note was that after all of the good ears were picked and I was left with scrubs, there were more birds than ever eating it. I had read that birds were able to sense the differences about food, that is they could tell if it was good or not. After that, I become a believer in that birds really could tell the difference.
Stay tuned for more stories.
2018 was my second year experimenting with natural gardening. I decided since I had such good luck with it the previous year that I would make at least half of my garden natural.
It's worth mentioning here that at this point I was still using some chemical fertilizers and insect killers on select crops.
Anyway, I wanted to definitely do the cucumbers in the natural garden, but I also wanted to try something new. I settled on corn; this plus the cucumbers gave me my half a garden (I love corn!).
I quickly learned that corn was even more of an upkeep than cucumbers. And it was much harder, too. Since I was not exclusively tilling after the plants came up, there was a lot of grass. (The grass comes in with the organic manure I get from my farm.) The grass of course looks like corn, so it was a very time consuming endeavor. Prior to natural gardening I was tilling and hoeing the corn once a week, even when it was young. Since I had switched to natural gardening the only place I was using the tiller on the corn was the outside row. And that was only to keep the neighboring farmer happy. I didn't pull many weeds right down the center of the row figuring they wouldn't do any harm there.
It took several weeks of maintaining the corn patch at this level before I could back off. Once the corn was 4-6 inches tall I left the weeds start to grow more.
As the corn continued to grow I wondered how the yield would be affected not tilling or hoeing. I had nice tall plants after the tassels set in - about 6.5ft. tall stalks - but I still wondered. I knew water wasn't an issue, the rain never sat on top of the ground. Unless it was a hard, fast rain.
I made the observation that most of the weeds that were growing were predominantly lambs and dandelions. I wondered what the lambs quarters meant about soil health. I did some investigating and learned that the lambs quarters meant my soil was nitrogen packed. I had made the same observation the previous year with the cucumber patch.
This made me question three things:
1. Is my soil really that loaded on nitrogen?
2. What was the actual level of nitrogen in the soil?
3. And finally, was this why my corn has always done so good in the past?
I took a sample of my soil in to the extension office to be tested. I found out that my soil was indeed full of nitrogen. I asked if it was surplus, they said there was a little bit extra, but not really enough to worry about.
So, the first week of September comes around. I made a quick walk through the patch and determined that even if the yield was low, there would still be enough for freezing. I set out the next Saturday morning to pick.
As soon as I started picking I realized just how much the corn had produced. At this point I'm obligated to tell you the weather has been very good for growing corn.
The corn produced so much that even after I was done freezing and had had some fresh meals of corn there was still too much out there to waste!
I called out some of my friends and told them to raid the corn patch. They told me they were not going in there, there were too many weeds. They also believed I was fibbing because, "...plants can't grow with that many weeds..."
I told them wait a few minutes and I would be back with some corn. I returned with about a dozen ears, this was all they wanted.
They texted me later that night to say that was the best corn they had ever gotten from me. They wanted to know what my secret was.
"Nothing," I told them.
"???," was the response.
"Nothing. I don't do anything to it. I don't weed it, I don't hoe it, I don't till it, and I definitely don't spray or fertilize it. It's a natural garden."
"Oh, okay sounds like fun."
I'm not sure if they believed me or not, but it was the truth.
Another interesting note was that after all of the good ears were picked and I was left with scrubs, there were more birds than ever eating it. I had read that birds were able to sense the differences about food, that is they could tell if it was good or not. After that, I become a believer in that birds really could tell the difference.
Stay tuned for more stories.
redback
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