Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com>]

GARDENS/MINI-FARMS NETWORK

USA: TX, MS, FL, CA, AR;  Mexico, Rep. Dominicana, Côté d’Ivoire, Nigeria,

Nicaragua, Honduras, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Haiti, England, India, Uzbekistan

minifarms@gmail.com

Workshops in organic, no-till, permanent bed gardening, mini-farming and mini-ranching worldwide in English & Español

 

 

Proven Practices for Community Gardens

 

“The largest underused agricultural resource we have is the urban poor.” Marty Strange, SFP Conference, Sacramento CA, Mar 2000

 

 

 

These are based on the internet, US & international agriculture magazines, experiences teaching agriculture in many countries, research and farmer experiences in those countries and a demonstration garden.  They are ecologically sustainable, environmentally responsible, socially just and economically viable.  There is unlimited, documented proof.  The following can double the yields and reduce the labor by half compared to traditional methods.  There are 200,000,000 no-till acres worldwide. ¡It works!

 

Gardens/Minifarms:  Fukaoka Farm, Japan, has been no-till [rice, small grains, vegetables] for 70 years.  An Indian gardener has been no-till [vegetables] for 5 years.  A Malawi gardener has been no-till [vegetables] on permanent beds for 25 years.  A Honduras farmer has been no-till [vegetables & fruit] on permanent beds on the contour (73° slope] for 8 years.  Ruth Stout [USA] had a no-till garden for 30 years and 7,000 people visited her garden.

 

1.        Open mind [Make changes in the mind, then the garden]

2.        Restore the soil to its natural health:  Contaminations:  inorganic pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fertilizers, etc. 

3.        Healthy soil:  Healthy soil produces healthy vegetables, for high yields, and prevents most of the disease, pest and weed problems.    

4.        Feed the soil; not the crops  [Inorganics feed the plants and poison the soil;  organics feed the soil and promote health.]

5.        Increase soil organic matter every year

6.        Little or no external inputs [not necessary to buy anything, from anybody, for the garden.  Certain things are recommended]

7.        Leave all crop residue on the beds.

8.          No-till:  no digging, no tilling, no cultivating:  No hard physical labor is needed so the elderly, children and lazy people can garden.

9.        Permanent beds  [crops]

10.     Permanent paths  [walking]

11.     Hand tools & power-hand tools

12.     12-months production  [economical nearly everywhere]

13.     Organic fertilizers [12 -16 probably not needed with healthy soil]

14.     Organic disease control. 

15.     Organic herbicides. 

16.     Organic pesticides. 

17.     Biological pest control. 

18.     Attract beneficials:  [bats, birds, toads, spiders, garden snakes, frogs, lizards, grasshopper mice, prairie deer mice, white footed mice, opossums, lacewings, ladybird beetles, syrphid flies, ground beetles and assassin bugs]

19.     Protect pollinators:  honey bees, native bees, wasps, yellow jackets, dirt daubers, butterflies

20.     Protect soil organisms:  worms, micros

21.      Soil always covered

22.     Use mulch/green manures/cover crops.

23.     Organic matter:  Free.  Delivered free?  When economically feasible, transport to the gardens.  Use as mulch.

24.     Composting:  Not necessary.  Too much time and work.  Pile excess organic matter until used as mulch.  Will compost in the bed.

25.     Vermiculture   Not necessary.  Worms will be in the beds.

26.     Drip irrigation [Purchase or DIY drip lines]

27.     Agri-training and/or educational tours [Train others. Especially young people]

28.     Imitate nature. Most gardeners fight nature. ¡Nature always wins!

 

youtube.com/watch?v=hOQkBP5nioY

youtube.com/watch?v=mMd53OOaah4

youtube.com/watch?v=ymBXgMOsVJg

 

Ken Hargesheimer

 

 

When Soil is Tilled

Dr. Elaine Ingham, describes an undisturbed soil—where a wide diversity of plants grow, their roots mingling with a wide diversity of soil organisms—and how it changes when it is plowed.

A typical teaspoon of native grassland soil contains between 600 million and 800 million individual bacteria that are members of perhaps 10,000 species.  Several miles of fungi are in that teaspoon of soil, as well as 10,000 individual protozoa.  There are 20 to 30 beneficial nematodes from as many as 100 species. Root-feeding nematodes are quite scarce in truly healthy soils.  They are present, but in numbers so low that it is rare to find them.

 

After only one tilling, a few species of bacteria and fungi disappear because the food they need is no longer put back in the system.  But for the most part, all the suppressive organisms, all the nutrient cyclers, all the decomposers, all the soil organisms that rebuild good soil structure are still present and trying to do their jobs.

 

But tillage continues to deplete soil organic matter and kill fungi. The larger predators are crushed, their homes destroyed.  The bacteria go through a bloom and blow off huge amounts of that savings-account organic matter.  With continued tillage, the "policemen" (organisms) that compete with and inhibit disease are lost.  The "architects" that build soil aggregates are lost.  So are the "engineers"—the larger organisms that design and form the larger pores in soil.  The predators that keep bacteria, fungi, and root-feeding organisms in check are lost.  Disease suppression declines, soil structure erodes, and water infiltration decreases because mineral crusts form.  Dr. Elaine Ingham, BioCycle, December 1998.  (From ATTRA News, July 06)

 

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