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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Erratic weather signals a need to change our gardening ways

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  • From: Pumpkin Lady <pumpkingal@clearwire.net>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Erratic weather signals a need to change our gardening ways
  • Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:35:11 -0500

Tradingpost wrote:

Despite being nearly a decade into the 21st century, we mostly garden as our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did before us, albeit with noisier devices and an expanded plant palette.

Nope. Moving out of my father's house and getting married, I got to do things my way, and the first thing I did was go read. One of the first books that made an impact on me was Ruth Stout's _How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back_, which I got from the library. I seriously pondered buying a copy for my dad, but ultimately decided that despite how thin and easy to read it was, my father still wouldn't read it, nor would he change his ways. Several other books, all square foot and bio intensive methods also made an impact. I tested them out, and by golly, a bundle of them did appear to work, even for me. ;-)

I never will do things like Ruth Stout did, exactly, but I don't live in New England. ;-) I don't do stuff exactly like any of the books, but I sure don't garden like my father or his father did.

Aside from playing with variety trials, I'm also trying to figure out how much or how little of something I need to grow for my own needs and do that much and no more, unless they are self-sustaining. Fewer plants = less waste, less water, less work. Of course, the best way to do a garden trial is still to grow a bundle of different varieties of something all at the same time so you get a real life comparison. But once I've done it, I can settle in on 1-4 varieties that do particularly well, with a few alternates I already have notes on that I can play with if conditions change.


The bottom line is that most gardeners are still stuffing their properties with ornamental plants that require an enormous amount of resources and time to care for, in a world increasingly pressed for both.

I will say this, the stuff planted here takes care of itself with the exception of needing pruning, but it all has to come out. While ornamental, it was able to survive without any extra water from me. Unfortunately, it WASN'T edible to either me or the goats. It was goat poison, in fact, so it has to go (and is, slowly). Mostly my goats stay where they are fenced (Yes, I know this is a wonder, to hear people talk about how goats are good at leaving their pens and pastures.), but I do not want them to get hurt if they do get out.

I have finally found a small list of plants that will probably survive in my area once they are established with very little help from me and are goat safe, as a bonus, these plants will also provide food - theoretically. I will be planting a few this year and, if I can keep the birds off them enough to have a taste, they should give me a crop of berries to eat. I'm not going crazy with them to begin with because I don't know if I will like them, but I am planning to test a few out next year. If I like them, they will be a major part of a layered dust protection hedge/privacy screen I plan for my property. If not, I'll look further afield for more candidates.


Do you suppose it's possible for plant-besotted gardeners, when faced with water shortages, changes in bird migration and bee health, high utility bills and lilacs flowering two
weeks earlier, to control their desires? Are we ready to simplify, cut back and enjoy what we have more? I think we must in the long run.

Sure. I was doing all that before I ever read this. I think a lot of people are, but a lot of people haven't had the penny drop. Cities still have all these rules about what you can and can't do in them. Neighborhood associations still want to require that you do things their way and their way is to insist that you have only ornamentals and your fences are only so high made of only certain aesthetically pleasing (to them) materials.

Morgan





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