Now in my 50’s, I have seen many different gardening practices. Looking back, one may wonder why the changes?
As little kid in the 70’s with a father that farmed in his spare time, our home vegetable garden was quite large, probably close to 100’ x 100’. Our home was on about ¾ of an acre, and the farm was in walking distance, just down the street and around the corner.
The vegetables were planted in rows that were probably 2’ – 3’ apart, so a rototiller could be run between the rows to manage weeds. We didn’t water – much… I guess there was enough rain to satisfy the water needs of the plants. The vegetables chosen were things my mother would can or freeze for winter use – green beans, tomatoes, beets were the crops that I remember most.
I recall my dad covering the soil with cow manure in the fall. He would bring in the tractor from the farm and spread the manure, then till it under.
The other plants on my parents’ property consisted of a few evergreen shrubs that were pruned into meatballs. From a distance, they could have been any evergreen shrub – juniper, holly, yew – they weren’t distinguishable, but as a matter of course, they had yews. My mom planted some annuals. I remember marigolds mostly. She had climbing roses along the fence, and that was about it. If it wasn’t in vegetables or a bed along the foundation, the land was in turf. In those days, When referring to plants, I don’t think the term "native" was used.
Now, our home vegetable garden is a bit different today. Our weather is a bit more erratic today than in the 70’s. We have longer periods of no rain, longer periods of lots of rain. Rows are not 2 – 3 feet apart. We plant our veggies close together to reduce the weeds and increase productivity per square foot. We don’t use rototillers because it breaks up the soil structure and the soil ultimately becomes compacted and gets hard when it dries out. The existing soil structure helps with water drainage and retention. The no-till system also keeps the critters undisturbed – those critters that we need for a healthy soil. We do continue to use manures to provide organic matter to our gardens, but also add other organic materials that include compost, leaves and straw.
In our garden, we do our best to keep the soil covered at all times, whether that is with a cover crop or some type of organic mulch – we like to use straw any time of the year. This not only enriches the soil with microbes, beneficial bacteria, and fungal threads, but also reduces weed seeds from germinating. It allows for better moisture retention and less runoff.
We use raised beds, with walkways between. This allows for little soil compaction as we don’t walk where the plants grow. It’s amazing how easy it is to plant seeds. Tools are typically not needed – the seeds can just be pushed in with our hands because the soil is so pliable.
The ornamental areas look very different than a typical 1970’s planting too. Now we have lots of layers of plants: trees, shrubs and perennials fill spaces around the house, along edges and borders, and even areas throughout the lawn. Turf is reduced as much as possible. Perennials are not cut back, leaves are not picked up.
Before we purchased this property, much of it was mowed. We’ve added trees to the hillsides, riparian buffer along the stream, and added meadows to areas that were mowed grass.
Why? As we learn more about our ecosystem – how critters are dependent on plants, the habitat needed for insects to survive, the impact insects have on our life – food, clean air, clean water – we begin to realize all the mistakes humankind has made. Our need for tidiness has left many insects homeless and dead, even extinct. Our need for no berry droppings, or no leaves in the pool, or our love affair with mulch has harmed our ecosystems, taking away those precious areas needed for overwintering insects, or seeds for the birds to feed, or dead and decaying logs for amphibians and reptiles to hide.
This fall has been a crazy one. Not only has the weather been a bit erratic but it seems our outside chores are never ending. Although we don’t rake leaves, cut back plants, or do a winter mulching, we have been planting, planting, and planting!
As I mentioned, we have been transitioning turf areas into meadows. This requires either seeds or plants. Since we went the seed route before in another area, which took quite a few years for the space to look like something, we decided to start this meadow with plants. We started seeds in flats this spring, then transplanted them into quart-sized nursery pots, then planted them to the meadow. Finally, this fall, the meadow has been completely planted. This has allowed us to choose where the plants go, where they will grow best - as some of the areas are wetter, some areas drier. It also allowed us to plant any particular species in large drifts.
So our first fall project has been to get all these plants in the ground and our second project is to get trees in the ground. We are always working on our riparian buffer. For us, this is a very large area along the stream that flows through the property and is very important. Much of our property is low, parts are a wetland. We are in a valley where water runs from many hillsides.
We have planted literally hundreds of trees and shrubs over the years to beef up the buffer. As a reminder, riparian buffers are plantings that filter water as it runs to the streams, slows the water, thus reducing run-off and soil erosion. By doing this, it allows water to filter to our water reserves.
That said, we had another 100 trees and shrubs to get into the ground before things froze. Although many did make it to their final home, some did not. Which brings us to another fall chore – overwintering plants. We have a cold frame. This allows us to easily overwinter plants, like these trees we didn’t get in the ground. Although raking leaves isn’t on our fall to-do list, we did need some to cover these potted plants to help insulate them this winter.
In an effort to continue reducing turf, we added many early spring blooming bulbs to a grassy area that has, over the years, become shady. Over 800 little bulbs were planted – like crocus, scilla, tete-a-tete daffodils, and so on. I’m thinking once we see how this looks, another no-mow area will be established.
Things we have learned through other people’s research is that allowing nature to do its thing – like leaving the leaves on the ground, and stems on the perennials so insects can overwinter, and allowing seed heads to remain for the birds, is not only beneficial, but imperative to the survival of the insects, who we rely on for our food, our clean water and a viable ecosystem. Those fall chores have become things we do to enhance those needs, as opposed to taking natural needs away.
We’ve come a long way from manicured lawns, evergreen balls for foundation plants, and vegetable gardens that are tilled. As we learn more about our ecosystems, how they work and are intertwined with our survival, lets all do what we can to take care of our environment.
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