how long does it take for the biodiversity to self-regulate in my favor?

Hi everyone,
I'm at my 3rd year trying to grow anything, we're in the fall season and looking back... I'm looking for much needed motivation. Any feedback would help.

I like to think that my experience improves, and what I see is decreasing harvests. Less tomatoes, less beans, lettuce is ok though they go to seed quickly so they are bitter, and most importantly this year 0 squash of any kind and 0 brassica of any kind (actually I should count 2 turnips that overwintered).
The highlights are ground cherries, bell peppers that decided to wake up in September and garlic.

I try in earnest to stay away from any pesticide, herbicide or even fertilizer aside from compost.

I started my garden on a 60 year old lawn on heavily compacted clay in a suburban setting.
The first year I was shy in mulching. I finally figured fertility is really lacking so this year I went heavy: I just finished mulching with a chipdrop truckload of wood chips. There is about 3inch of mulch and still have left over.

I think I struggle most with pests. My first year was the best. Last year I lost tons of things to dears and groundhogs, I spent tons of energy to raise the fence and lower it underground, in the end I still had a share of things.
This year was rather discouraging. I noticed funny bugs on the squashes although the plants were struggling. I traveled 2 weeks in July and when back all the squashes were gone, I couldn't even tell where they were planted. Now I know those funny bugs are named squash bugs. Then I noticed another new comer, the harlequin bug. They were everywhere, I kept picking them by hand a couple of times of every day, I never got rid of them, everything kale, cabbage, turnip disappeared.
Coming September the number of bugs was very down, maybe because there was no brassica left, so I seeded bok choi, kale again, small cabbage, turnips. I saw them germinating and then the next day I didn't see them anymore. I blamed the slugs because it's fashionable, but I don't really know the real culprit.

I have absolutely no clue anymore, on the Dunning-Kruger curve I am right in the deepest of the "valley of despair". And I'm not even trying to do anything fancy.
Can someone tell what is the next curveball? I do see more bugs, more bees, more birds, even more slugs. Is biodiversity a thing that works, and when?
I don't really know what to do next. Anyone has any idea?

just wondering? did you turn those wood chips into compost? you don't say where you are. I remember a time we spread out a whole bunch of wood chips trying to smother weeds and they attracted  and harbored all kids of bugs.
maybe if you dont want to use even organic pest control products, you can plant lots of marigolds and flowers herbs and spices that repel  bugs naturally.

thanks Bruce!
For the wood chips I just applied them directly last month everywhere.
I live in the greater DC area on the East coast, USDA zone 7b.
True, last year I had several marigold, not this year. This year I have comfrey, black eyed susan, calendula, coneflowers. I'll go back to marigolds.

That sounds really discouraging. I'm in a similar boat. I'm waiting for the supposed benefits to start kicking in but my garden is currently be assailed by shield bugs and tiny brassica loving caterpillars. I decided to manually exterminate before I lost my entire crop.

I have a few hypotheses for my case

1. The varieties of crops I'm planting are not suited to my garden. The seeds are mostly store bought and in many cases from foreign countries.
2. My garden beds don't have the nutrients my plants need to protect themselves.
3. I planted too many brassicas beside each other, making it very easy for the moths to find the feast.
4. I don't have much in the way of repellent plants yet - garlic, marigolds, thyme, etc.

My plans to address these issues:
1. Save seeds from the survivors.
2. Make more and better compost, and maybe bokashi.
3. Take more care in my garden layout and really spread things out, and plant at different timings too.
4. Get some of these, especially the flowers, growing in pots that I can place in strategic places near my raised beds and move them when necessary.

Hopefully we can overcome our pest problems!

I think the bottom line is that it may never.  When we garden with annual plants we are putting fragile varieties in the ground, that are amazingly tasty to wildlife. Even with a fully rich ecosystem there will be some - potentially quite considerable! losses.

You can mitigate this by choosing to grow what works well in your conditions, but you can't expect all of our tender annual varieties to respond well in those conditions. In my garden leeks do well, squash do well (provided I can get them established, cold wet weather and slugs meant they were a failure this year), beans do well once they are established... but I had to fence out the rabbits to get any at all. They were snipping the stems at ground level. Tomatoes did well one year - nothing ate them and we had a gloriously hot summer. The following year they were a total bust.

This year my garden basically grew slugs in all shapes and sizes.

Nature works on her own time!! I don't think we can expect immediate results. I started paying closer attention to the folks with videos showing gorgeous, lush, super bearing gardens and they're fertilizing the crap out of them, and mostly using varieties they know work in the area. Not saying you should be doing the same, but maybe put in some comfrey (a lot of comfrey) and start using that? Doing more chop-and-drop with whatever does grow well? Making nasty fish water or whatever local fertilizer makings you have? Maybe time to start mixing it up in terms of what you use to boost fertility (especially if you have neighbors that are using toxic things or potentially bad ingredients that might be getting in your compost, which seems to be increasingly common).

As for squash bugs- they seem to be the norm, rather than the exception. Snails and slugs too (I went out hunting them in the rain the other night and got 100 snails in my garden, after they cut a number of my young beans.).
It sounds like you're in a hot place (and heaven knows the weather has been incredibly unpredictable everywhere this year)-- timing may help, or not. Keep trying, and keep in mind new weather trends (here we're getting warmer, and I'm noticing my kale is just not growing the same).

I'm on an urban lot as well, it's been about 7 years. Every year I just keep adapting to whatever gets thrown at me. The tomato bugs stopped me from growing tomatoes entirely, until I realized I could grow them under cover in winter. We had BLTs yesterday with Russian Purples, the first variety I've found that does really well.

Take notes, keep trying, and try to enjoy the process!

I totally agree with the advice to try to enjoy the process!

The comments about growing mostly or only fragile annuals is a good one. Personally, we are lucky enough to be putting our new gardening system into a piece of ground (2 acres-ish) in long-term pasture. The plant diversity is strong, soil in fantastic shape, and abundance and diversity of beneficial organisms extreme (for example, the soils are often swarming with wolf spiders and predatory big-eyed bugs). So, as we plan our site, I am strategizing how to maintain that diversity by retaining large patches of diverse pasture plants, wildflowers, etc. as habitat and attractors for that helpful diversity. My point relative to your question is that perhaps you can wedge into your garden some permanent biodiversity habitats: let the grass grow tall, plant in some flowers, etc. It'll take time to develop, but that might be a long-term strategy in addition to soil-building, which it sounds like you understand the need for.

It can take several seasons of trial and error to figure out what will work in you specific conditions.  I've given up on summer squash, because they always succumb to squash vine borer and powdery mildew. But acorn squash seen to just shrug off the same.  Cilantro bolts but I have lovage 7 months of the year.  Cucumbers wilt, but I can pickle green tomatoes.

With cherries and grapes, i need to be vigilant about hand-picking and discarding infected or infested fruit because they suffer from plum curculios and black rot.  It can be discouraging to throw out a quarter of the fruit, but the 3/4 I harvest is still quit a lot of premium fruit.  

I can't answer your question about how long it will take as only Mother Nature knows that answer.

To me, it sounds like you are working towards getting there.

I like what Dr. Bryant Redhawk says on the subject:

Very rarely would you be lucky enough to find someone who simply tells you “just plant your seeds, those will start doing the improvements you want in the end”.

He goes on to say:

So how can we grow plants (vegetables and all other members of the plant kingdom) and at the same time build our soil and the microorganisms we need to have really great soil?
How exactly does this method work and how long will it take if all I do is grow plants?

I will let you read the rest of the story, here:

https://permies.com/t/123928/Growing-Plants-builds-soil-health

wood chips are great in many applications but with soil you want to improve compost is a good way to do that. if you can compost those wood chips then spread the compost and get it tilled into your soil it would be a good thing. there is lots of info about composting out there. but basically you want a mix of organic matter that will heat up and decompose the organic matter. many here have reported that planting fungi such as winecaps it will break down wood chips very well. but if you can get a bunch of manure and leaves and other organic matter to mix in with the wood chips that can help too.
dont give up hope, if there's a will there's a way

I've had some very frustrating years where I live now. The "soil" is terrible - totally dead, no organic material. There are lots of things that grow wild in it, though, so I should be able to grow things too. So I've just started growing lots of different things every year with very low expectations, and observing what does well where. Then I save seeds from what does best. That's key.

I've found that growing perennials really helps. They seem to help the soil and they give you something to look at when all your annuals have died 😒.  I have lots of perennial herbs and greens scattered through my gardens. I just planted a whole bunch more oregano and marjoram in some of the really hot spots in my garden cause they're the only things that can survive. They shade the ground and create a cooler spot for the other things growing around them. After two years my salad burnet is starting to take off. I've got some perennial kale that's amazing.  Every year I put walking onion topsets in places I don't think they'll survive. Most of them don't, but occasionally one or two will.

I don't have to deal with groundhogs, I'm happy to say. I do have voracious pocket gophers, though.  I've found that the more variety I have, the less damage they do. When my hugelculture had just squash, tomatoes, and walking onions growing on it, they ate everything and chomped plants down at the base just for fun. Now it's got more walking onions, strawberries (that never produce, but they survive) salad burnet, parsley, bachelor's buttons, a couple different mustards, perennial kale, violas (leaves and flowers are sweet, tasty, and very cold hardy), potatoes I planted three years ago that keep coming back, wild broccoli raab, and whatever annuals I put in there - usually tomatoes or squash. The gophers are still there. I just dug up my volunteer potatoes yesterday and there were tunnels. There were also potatoes, though. And I didn't have any squash vines or tomatoes dragged down holes this year or walking onions flopping over when the bulbs got munched.

In the fall, I plant winter grain and peas. Just scatter seeds around, don't put much effort into it.  I harvest the grain the next year, but you can also just use it as cover crop. The peas get spread around by rodents and come up in unexpected places, and provide tasty greens in early winter and, for the ones that overwinter, very early spring. Plus they improve the soil.

So I guess my advice is to just keep trying different things, plant more of the stuff that works, plant more perennials or prolific self seeding annuals and biennials, and try not to get too emotionally invested. I don't know how to do that last one, but maybe you can figure it out!

Oh, and keep mulching! Once I started getting serious about thick mulch, added every year I saw almost immediate improvements. We just ordered a big chipper/shredder so I can make better use of all the stuff I scrounge up. For example, leaves just blow away in winter, but shredded leaves stay put.  I'd rather not have the chipper, but for now I think it'll be invaluable for jump starting things.

Hi Fred,

Sounds like you have realized that you have 2 separate problems to tackle. Get a handle on the bugs and amend your soil. It helps to break the problems down.

I live in high desert country. When I started my garden 10 years ago I was totally assaulted, invaded and tortured by the bugs. I had created a feast where all the bugs and animals are on a starvation diet. I think all the bugs for miles around headed right to my yard. Yes, everyone told me to use mulch, mulch and more mulch to save the water and keeps the plants' roots cool but that's where all the bugs lived and multiplied like crazy! I especially had earwigs (which took me a year to get under control) and pill bugs (which I finally started to get a handle on last year).  The earwigs would demolish my peas and beans overnight. And the pill bugs would devour every squash plant and every root crop and all my brassicas in just hours after dark. That's the best time to look for the culprits... in the middle of the night.

By the 3rd year I realized for better or worse I had to take the mulch away! Didn't really have any choice. The bugs were not leaving me anything! I did what Bruce suggested. I used all my leaves and mulch for my compost which does a great job amending the soil. But I admit I never have enough compost to go around and use organic fertilizer for the nitrogen, molybdenum, copper, zinc and whatever else my compost might be missing. It's just made out of alfalfa, fish meal, kelp etc. which helps a lot. But each year my soil gets better and I use less and less of it.

And I still spray all my brassica seedlings a couple of times with 'spinosad' when I plant them out. Once they are about a foot tall they can fend for themselves. I still have some bugs but a whole lot less than I did. And 'spinosad' is also totally natural and organic. I've never had a big slug problem but I've been told 'Sluggo' works really well. And if I remember correctly it's just iron phosphate which is good for your garden. It would be nice if Mother Nature was a little more proactive helping us but I'll use any organic means necessary.

And in place of the mulch I've learned to create shade for all/most of my plants. Everybody's given you lots of good suggestions. Hope it helps. Happy gardening.

And I do hope you cheer up. You CAN do this. Things that are really worthwhile are seldom easy. If it was easy everyone would be doing it. But there is such great satisfaction and absolute joy in overcoming all the challenges and growing your own food! It just doesn't happen overnight... or maybe, even in a year or two. We all have a lot to learn. Eating healthy and working with nature will nourish your soul too, I promise.

I too, doubted that I would ever be able to grow my own food and I did shed a few too many tears about it. And every situation is different and every year is different. I overcame earwigs and pill bugs and extreme drought and now my garden is thriving. But I also noticed that I've seen lots and LOTS of Colorado potato beetles this year for the first time which are on everything THAT I'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE. That can't be good! So I will study up and prepare for my next challenge. And you can too! Have faith, my friend.

Thanks everyone for your replies and suggestions.
A lot of the comments are on points with the direction I am trying to take, this is encouraging.
I find that keeping flowers in pots and moving them where needed, is a good idea.
Thanks Anne for sharing Dr Bryant RedHawk's topic on soil building, this is definitely where I need to pay more attention.

So I think I set my mind on several things I'm going to do in the coming months. I know I have 2 major angles to tackle.
For the soil, I'll spread around the rye seeds I have in spots that are less mulched. I think I'm going to integrate grass clippings into the wood chips, I have lots of grass. I have few young fruit trees and bushes, there are several other fruits that I want to add. And next year I'll install grape vines on the south fence because "thanks" to the deers my fence is now fairly tall and the south side won't steal any sunlight from the rest of the plot. Next spring I'll remove the mulch on half the space to warm up faster, till into it the compost I've been feeding this year into the space where I put seeds, and mulch back where I transplant. I think I want to educate myself about compost teas.

For the pests, well, not entirely sure. I know several bugs and eggs to watch for next year, hopefully preventive inspections will help control them. A very welcome sight this year was a sharp increase in cardinals, mockingbirds (I think) and smaller birds visiting the garden. Winter will be quiet so I might try my hands at building some bird houses. I have leftover bricks from a construction project, I might randomly pile them somewhere as shelter for "biodiversity", hopefully the helping one.
Marigold grows well here, I'll get it back next year. I really wanted to have nasturtiums but they don't seem to thrive, does anyone know if they prefer cooler or warmer spots? I have some comfrey established, I heard it is invasive so I should be set with them. I need to install thyme, I love that herb.

Ok, that's probably going to be my rough game plan. Does that sound ok? Does anyone see adjustments that I should make?


I do enjoy the process, I am normally good about it. Since I picked up gardening I discovered that it is a fascinating topic. Well, things don't always work out and occasionally hit me.
Debbie, your pictures are amazing.

I`ll chip in a bit with my experiences here.
Being wet and cool, slugs love it here, and those were probably my number one pest. I spent about three years trying to grow annual veg. and getting more and more frustrated. Did my carrots not germinate? or were they just grazed off by the slugs? At the same time I reread `Plants for a Future` by Ken Fern and started collecting perennial veg. and edible trees and shrubs. Time got in the way, and my experimental plantings and fruit bushes grew with much less frustration. I have to admit though I still get little of my food from them, although increasing potential as they establish.
I find it interesting that, like Jan, one of my most successful food plants is a perennial kale, yet our climates are very different! I did have two different ones and only one survived, so you may need to get a few to find one that likes your plot. It does seem though for food value one that is worth trying anywhere!
I`m now getting brave enough to have another go at annual veg, but am going for a natural farming approach more as an experiment. To quote L. Johnson from another thread

I get to harvest lessons even when the vegetables don't grow,

Have fun!

The highlights are ground cherries, bell peppers that decided to wake up in September and garlic.

One more idea, Fred, that really turned things around for me: study your successes. For example, ground cherries do not grow in my 7b arid, alkaline soil ecosystem but they are growing well in your 7b yard. That says that even though you can grow plants that say "7b" not all 7b plants will grow in your particular soil conditions.
Consider this great little chart by author Colleen Vanderlinden about growing ground cherries as a way to explore your conditions:
https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-organic-ground-cherries-2539577
Working backward from what is succeeding gives you a rough idea about your soil type (loamy, sandy, well-drained) and soil pH (acidic, 6.0-6.5).
Now you can find other plants that thrive in these conditions. You can also check out companion plants that work well with your successes. Chances are, the companions will thrive with the plants that stand out as highlights. Looking for plants that thrive in your specific conditions is much easier than radically changing your soil type.
Go further with this idea by studying your neighbors successes.