Re: How to start a new garden

[Guest guest]

>Can anyone point me to a good source of information on

>organic/biodynamic/sustainable/fertile soil gardening?

Chi and others have already referred to some important texts, but I'd also

try to get ahold of " The Self-Sufficient Gardener " by Seymour. It's

out of print, but if there's any way you can score a copy, you won't regret

it. It's the best single book on gardening and related issues on my book

shelf.

The works of Eliot are also interesting and very worthwhile, but

lately he seems to have gotten the idea that livestock and manure are

completely unnecessary and that a farmer or gardener can bypass them just

by composting " green manure " , which is absurd. Still, with that and few

other caveats, his books are well worth reading. (I've had excellent

results with Seymour's deep bed method of weed-choking planting, so I'd

ignore 's dismissal of the idea.)

I'd also look into vermiculture. Other than the usual -- promoting earth

worm growth in the garden, composting, etc. -- I discovered this after I'd

moved to places that weren't garden-friendly, so I have no specific advice

or texts to recommend, but I still think the topic could be very

important. Provided you don't pursue it factory farm-style, it could be a

very healthful addition to your efforts.

-

[Guest guest]

I like the biodynamic/French intensive method. A good

how-to book on it by Jeavons is How To Grow More

Vegetables, Fruit, Nuts, Berries, Grains and Other

Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than

You Can Imagine. Yes, I know it's a hokey title but

it gets the point across. Here's a description of the

method:

http://www.bountifulgardens.org/growbiointensive.html

It's not difficult, and it focuses on growing the soil

as well as food, with the goal of raising food in a

" practical, affordable and sustainable manner using

available resources " , based on the manner in which

wild plants grow in nature. It's geared towards

open-pollinated varieties, no hybrids, and emphasizes

improving the soil rather than applying purchased

fertilizers, and it uses less water than conventional

methods.

You can buy the book as well as those on related

topics at the website in the link above. Some of the

literature they sell emphasizes applying a vegetarian

philosophy to grow a " complete diet " , but How To Grow

More Vegetables doesn't try to indoctrinate you or

tell you what you should be eating in addition to your

plant foods (the older edition I have doesn't,

anyway). I can ignore the occasional comment about a

" complete " vegetarian diet in their other

publications, it doesn't discount the growing method

IMO.

Aubin

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

,

I've been searching the archives but am having a difficult time finding the

books that " Chi and Others " referenced. Could you give me a little better lead?

Do you remember the subject they were discussing? I'm already working on the

others you mentioned, thanks.

----- Original Message -----

From: Idol

Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 8:28 PM

Subject: Re: How to start a new garden

>Can anyone point me to a good source of information on

>organic/biodynamic/sustainable/fertile soil gardening?

Chi and others have already referred to some important texts, but I'd also

try to get ahold of " The Self-Sufficient Gardener " by Seymour. It's

out of print, but if there's any way you can score a copy, you won't regret

it. It's the best single book on gardening and related issues on my book

shelf.

The works of Eliot are also interesting and very worthwhile, but

lately he seems to have gotten the idea that livestock and manure are

completely unnecessary and that a farmer or gardener can bypass them just

by composting " green manure " , which is absurd. Still, with that and few

other caveats, his books are well worth reading. (I've had excellent

results with Seymour's deep bed method of weed-choking planting, so I'd

ignore 's dismissal of the idea.)

I'd also look into vermiculture. Other than the usual -- promoting earth

worm growth in the garden, composting, etc. -- I discovered this after I'd

moved to places that weren't garden-friendly, so I have no specific advice

or texts to recommend, but I still think the topic could be very

important. Provided you don't pursue it factory farm-style, it could be a

very healthful addition to your efforts.

-

[Guest guest]

-

>I've been searching the archives but am having a difficult time finding

>the books that " Chi and Others " referenced. Could you give me a little

>better lead? Do you remember the subject they were discussing? I'm

>already working on the others you mentioned, thanks.

Well, there's _The Albrecht Papers_, which I think come in several volumes

and are supposed to be excellent, and Andre Voisin's _Soil, Grass and

Cancer_. I'm not sure if other works were mentioned, but those are the big

two, AFAIK.

Seymour's written some other books too, and while I haven't read them,

based on _The Self-Sufficient Gardener_ I'd guess they're peerlessly excellent.

-

[Guest guest]

>> I like the biodynamic/French intensive method. A good

how-to book on it by Jeavons is How To Grow More Vegetables, Fruit,

Nuts, Berries, Grains and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on

Less Land Than You Can Imagine. Yes, I know it's a hokey title but it

gets the point across. Here's a description of the method:

http://www.bountifulgardens.org/growbiointensive.html <<

How does this compare with Square Foot Gardening?

~ Carma ~

To be perpetually talking sense runs out the mind, as perpetually

ploughing and taking crops runs out the land. The mind must be manured,

and nonsense is very good for the purpose. ~ Boswell

Carma's Corner: http://www.users.qwest.net/~carmapaden/

[Guest guest]

--- Carma Paden <carmapaden@...> wrote:

> >> I like the biodynamic/French intensive method. A

> good

> how-to book on it by Jeavons is How To Grow

> More Vegetables, Fruit,

> Nuts, Berries, Grains and Other Crops Than You Ever

> Thought Possible on

> Less Land Than You Can Imagine. Yes, I know it's a

> hokey title but it

> gets the point across. Here's a description of the

> method:

>

http://www.bountifulgardens.org/growbiointensive.html

> <<

>

> How does this compare with Square Foot Gardening?

Similar, I think. 4 x 4 gardening is also similar (4

foot x 4 foot beds), and there's another one based on

circles. Deep soil preparation and intensively

building the soil in the beds are the basics.

Attention to improving and maintaining the soil is

vital (as it should be in all growing methods),

because intensive planting can deplete the soil even

faster than conventional methods, if done incorrectly.

If done correctly, it is sustainable and

soil-building.

I'm glad this came up again, because I just got the

newest version of How To Grow More Vegetables, and I

see it does have a bit more vegan propaganda type info

than the older version, which may turn some people

off, but if you can ignore that part and take the

useful info on the nuts and bolts of growing plant

foods in a small space while growing soil at the same

time, it's a great resource, IMO. It does still

mention the integration of dairy animals into a

sustainable mini-farm, and the author talks more about

that in another book of his. It also now compares the

method more to ancient Chinese techniques of

sustainable agriculture (not what's practiced there

today) than to biodynamic/French Intensive methods,

and has a history of Ecology Action and how it's

evolved over the past decades and versions of this

book.

Aubin

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

>> I'm glad this came up again, because I just got the

newest version of How To Grow More Vegetables, and I

see it does have a bit more vegan propaganda type info

than the older version, <<

Are there improvements over the old version, or will a used old copy

have as much useful information?

~ Carma ~

To be perpetually talking sense runs out the mind, as perpetually

ploughing and taking crops runs out the land. The mind must be manured,

and nonsense is very good for the purpose. ~ Boswell

Carma's Corner: http://www.users.qwest.net/~carmapaden/