In any industry, profession or hobby there is a lot of terminology or buzzwords and in the world of gardening and self sufficiency there is more than a few to describe what you can do.
I remember a while a go I had a few people come over to view my garden and the one lady asked "if I practised permacuture?", well yes and no I said, there are many ways to describe current gardening methods:
Conventional
Organic
No Dig,
Back to Eden,
Double dig,
Min till (minimum tillage),
Permaculture,
Bio-Intensive
Bio-dynamic
Sustainable agriculture,
Regenerative agriculture,
Hydrophonic,
Aquaphonic,
Urban Agriculture,
Plasticulture,
And Many More!
And I fit somewhere in there. Some I certainly don't do (double dig or bio-dynamic) and many I certainly do!
I'm not sure where I am on that list but I certainly don't like to put a label on my gardening "style" as then I feel I can't experiment or mess around with other methods.
My current method of gardening would best be described as "an organic approach that used no dig or minimum tillage (or though I occasionally dig over a plot completely) , whilst practising some aspects of permaculture when it comes to fruit and trees, some of sustainable and regenerative agriculture, but with many annual veg with a bio-intensive spacing utilising plasticulture to suppress weeds where necessary.
Actually I think what I'm trying to say is it's best not to label the type of gardening you do as you might end up restricting yourself.
Do what works, try something new every year and keep experimenting to keep it interesting.
Just make sure you look after the soil and the rest looks after itself.
What buzzwords would you add to that list?
What over the top way could you use to describe your current gardening methods?
I think a bit of everything sums me up, I garden for enjoyment and put food on the table :-)
ReplyDeleteI love my little garden, and everything to do with it, any harvest are just the icing on the green cake.
ReplyDeleteSeeing how cold and windy it is here today I would add.........A fair weather gardener!
ReplyDeletewe fit quite a few of your descriptions on the list but would add that we are "seaweed and comfrey tea" crazy.
ReplyDeletesending much love, as always! your friend,
kymber
I've just started my Permaculture Diploma so I guess I ought to be a little bit on the permaculture side haha
ReplyDeleteBut I'm also no dig, organic, bio-diverse, min-til, sustainable & regenerative and Gods knows what else. Perhaps the only answer that all of us can give when asked what kind of gardener we are is "a busy one!"
Some lady ased me if she should put manure on her strawberries so being a helpful employee at the plant area of the store, I told her that a little sweetener of some kind would be best. Some people don't get my humor and the others don't like it. Oh well I guess I am a gardener who uses what resources I have that are sustainable never figured out a label for it.
ReplyDeleteI am what people today would call an 'ORGANIC' gardener, but I never say that myself. I just do things as I was taught to do them; with respect for nature. I am also a slightly lazy gardener, always looking for ways to ease the burden of too much hard work.
ReplyDeleteI would call my self a natural gardener. I don't use man made chemicals on the veg plot and love reading gardening books ancient and modern.
ReplyDeleteI firstly call myself a novice and secondly very enthusiastic. This is only my second season and first full season of properly sowing and growing and I am loving it! I have to say I don't get it right all the time, who does, but I love learning and seeing what DOES work out and am always happy to accept help, hints and tips from people. I take a bit of a "let nature just do its thing" attitude sometimes because back in the day they didn't have fancy gadgets, compost etc just the natural ground but I appreciate things can help to improve what we grow.
ReplyDeleteI like your style! I never was too keen on labels myself, because folks don't always define them the same way and then they come with all sorts of assumptions that don't fit.
ReplyDeleteMore and more I'm thinking that the double-dig method is a good move for us. Trying to build soil from the top works good in a forest, but I'll never get it down as far as the roots want to grow. I should start on some of that digging soon; it's almost time to plant again!
Hi Kev :) That's a great description! I don't have any more buzzwords except that I used to be a "lazy" gardener. Now I'm an "avid" gardener lol...may I ask, why do you certainly not double dig? I saw a video on it, and thought it might be a good idea for my upcoming pumpkin patch, right now it's a grassy area with lots of weeds. I'd like your opinion on that! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's best to grow the bonsai tree seedling half-inch down in the soil. It's best to keep the soil moist enabling the seed to get bigger.
ReplyDeleteBonsaiTreeGardener