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April 2007
Gardening the Natural Way
By Brian Murray
Blue Barn Farms
From the late 1940’s till the early 1970’s DDT was the chemical of choice for the control of pests in gardens, both commercial as well as residential. This was the way of thinking of how to grow the world’s food supply without the bothersome insects. As times change we have found out chemicals have a place in this world, but not around our food supply. Insects although troublesome at times, do play a role in our environment and don’t have to be destroyed in mass numbers. The massive use of fertilizers and pesticides has made some areas in our country unable to grow anything without these chemicals. The chemicals have destroyed the fertility/life of the soil as well as some adjoining waterways and aquatic creatures. This doesn’t have to be the way you grow your vegetables in your own garden. There is a better way that works with nature instead of destroying it.
The simple way to grow food in your own residential garden is to use natural products and a little manual labor. We at Blue Barn Farms use the minimum amount of external supplements possible. For the most part this is limestone, as well as a few micro-nutrients as required. The way to find out what is required to make your garden optimal for growing is to do a soil test. Soil tests are easy to do, and for a small fee the Dept. of Agriculture will analyze and give recommendations. We find most soils that haven’t had a garden before, or haven’t had supplements added in the last few years (depending on the soil) can benefit from an application of lime as well as an application of compost.
On the farm we use the powered form of limestone, as it is the least expensive, and we have the machinery to apply it. Some people like to use the pelletized lime due to simplicity of application as well as the lack of dust during the application. The main product used for our fertilizer is our own composted cow manure. Cow manure boosts the organic matter in your soil as well as adding tilth. The tilth of your soil is the physical condition of the soil as related to its ease of tillage, fitness as a seedbed, and impedance to seedling emergence and root penetration.
What this means is that you will probably see more worms in your soil, as well as other beneficial organisms. All this makes a healthy soil to grow your vegetables in. We don’t have to add commercial pesticides; herbicides or fertilizers neither do you.
One problem people encounter with natural gardens is weeds. Although you can slow down the growth, it is almost impossible to eliminate them. First you have to realize that weeds actually come from different places, surrounding soil, air or from the supplements added. The purpose of everyone’s garden is to make a soil that will grow the biggest vegetables, not the biggest weeds. Unfortunately with optimal soil conditions, the weeds can flourish as well. If soil amendments have been previously added, the tilth of the soil should make weed removal easier. The answer to weed problems is to not let them get out of control. A little work every other day will mean better vegetable growth and minimal weeds.
So how do you deal with this? You start by getting your compost as well aged as possible. In our case we take first or second year cow manure/compost and plant squash and cucumbers into the compost. This will grow large squash and a lot of cucumbers due to the high moisture retention ability of the compost. What this does also is allows the large squash leaves to cover the compost pile and help to shelter the pile from preventing weed seeds from getting a start. After the season has come to an end, then incorporate this into the garden for the following year. Sometimes we also seed a cover crop of winter rye grass. The following Spring we till the winter rye into the garden for the free nitrogen the rye provides. Then we plant our garden as usual and wait to see what happens. Usually the first thing to happen is the weeds will come up and try to take over. The most important thing to do is not allow this to happen. Once the weeds become established you have major trouble for quite some time. At this point the compost added to your soil would now come into play. A healthy garden doesn’t have to be hard work, just proper care and adding proper amendments when required.
For Additional info you can contact:
Brian Murray
Blue Barn Farms
1800 Hammonds Plains Road
info@bluebarn.ca
www.bluebarn.ca
PH 499-3399
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