A Totally New Way Of Thinking

Before I can really start to delve into some of the most important lessons I want to teach about gardening, I have to give some of you a new way of thinking. In fact what I will suggest, will seem strange too many of you at first. But if you are willing to give it a try, you will soon learn that this is the key, that unlocks so many important factors that will allow your garden to thrive and be a pleasant place to work in.

So I’m going to take most people’s thinking, and turn it right on its head. What is the primary focus of most gardeners? Their plants. That is totally understandable. That is the goal after all, isn’t it? To work hard to nurture the plants so that we receive a bountiful final harvest? That was my focus for many years. It allowed me to be quite successful in many ways. But I came to a place where I realized there was a next step I needed to take. The more I studied and observed what was happening in the garden, something became very evident to me. Life was the most important factor. The term life is so broad though that I’m sure it leaves you cloudy in your thinking in regards to what I am getting at. In a truly thriving, abundant garden, life is everywhere. The problem is many of the most important life forms we can’t see with the naked eye. This is our disadvantage. That which is most important, we cannot see, but we must remain focused on it primarily.  

This microscopic life is everywhere. With a very healthy plant there are microbiomes around the roots of the plants, on their stems and leaves, even within the plants vascular system. These diversified life forms are performing important tasks in symbiosis with your plants. If that diversified symbiosis is active and thriving, so will your plants as well. Without their symbiotic function actively in place, there are many functions your plant is not capable of on its own.

So this is how I want you to start thinking about your garden. I want you to see it as a place to primarily nurture as much microscopic life as you can. Not just in the soil, but on everything. Your focus is no longer your plants. Your plants are a means to take care of important biology.

The more diverse the plant species are in your garden, the more diverse your biology will be. Some species of microorganisms only have a symbiotic relationship with certain species of plants. This is quite evident to mushroom hunters. A good mushroom hunter will hunt for certain species of trees, if they are looking for certain species of gourmet mushroom. This is one of the reasons I believe that companion planting can be so beneficial at times. One plant is capable of symbiosis with a very special microorganism, yet the other species of plants within the vicinity are able to benefit from that symbiosis as well. As we get into the vast network of life, that some refer to as the soil food web, you will begin to understand why this isn’t such a strange thought.

There are so many concepts presented here that I could begin to delve into, but that will be for future posts. The most important takeaway I want you to get is this: Start to see your growing area primarily as a place to nurture diverse microbial life. It just so happens that when you learn to do that, you have mineral dense healthy plants, that your gut microbiome can be nurtured with as well.

Homework
For the serious students that want to learn all they can. Healthy plants will transport special biology through their vascular system to the seeds they are producing, ensuring that when the seed is sown it has the proper biology present to protect it. This link will get you started.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140929180055.htm

Interesting concept, but Permaculture practises the same thing.

Yeah, there's still a lot of gardening out there where this is somewhere between revolutionary and sacrilege, but around here it's our baseline understanding -- so you're among friends!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Observation is one of the principle of permaculture.

https://permies.com/t/156015/Observing-life-death-life-patterns

https://permies.com/t/225371/permaculture/Observation

Welcome Craig!!
If you're into the soil, and the soil biota, and the big picture, you are definitely in the right place!! This is our bread and butter (dirt and worms?). I look forward to learning more about your gardens and seeing what you're doing.

What a beautiful garden!

I'm still 'new' to successful gardening and working on learning how to grow an assortment of plants. Some feel easier than others but I am seeing that the soil is a large factor in success. I'm a fan of deep mulches and composting pathways currently.

How much space are you cultivating for your veggies? I'm envious.

I don't know much about the possibilities of improving the microorganism diversity on the plant's surface. I've read a bit about soil microorganisms and how they help a make healthy soil, but how can we encourage leaf biota too to make plants more disease resistant perhaps?

Timothy Norton wrote:What a beautiful garden!

I'm still 'new' to successful gardening and working on learning how to grow an assortment of plants. Some feel easier than others but I am seeing that the soil is a large factor in success. I'm a fan of deep mulches and composting pathways currently.

How much space are you cultivating for your veggies? I'm envious.

I have 10's of thousands of square feet of garden beds that have been double dug down to 24". It totally depends on the year how much of that is used. This past summer was not as much because I was focused on building infrastructure. I also don't grow as much as I did when I was younger. In my prime I was making $40,000 from about 1/10th of an acer. I know that sounds crazy but it is true.

You mentioned composting paths. Try also putting down biochar in your paths as well it makes a lot of difference. I especially use biochar made from things that take a long time to decompose, like bones, egg shells, nut shells. Very mineral rich carbon sources.

Your deep mulching is also a great practice. Thank you for commenting, have a great day!

Nancy Reading wrote:I don't know much about the possibilities of improving the microorganism diversity on the plant's surface. I've read a bit about soil microorganisms and how they help a make healthy soil, but how can we encourage leaf biota too to make plants more disease resistant perhaps?

The Koreans have done the most, at least that I have seen. They make special foliar sprays that have biology integrated into them. One example is using LAB (lactic acid bacteria), from whey. They also have techniques for collecting biology from one plant and transferring it to another through making an FPJ (fermented plant juice). If you want to understand these concepts further I would encourage you to look up Chris Trump (no relation to the president), he has a YouTube channel. He is a KNF (Korean Natural Farming) instructor.

Here is a video of Chris doing a large scale FPJ at his families farm in Hawaii.