Photo by Christian Joudrey on Unsplash 
My small scale puttering has given me enough encouragement that I’m planning a LARGE garden plot when we finally arrive at 5 Dog Farm South. But what method to choose? Square Foot Gardening. Back to Eden. Permaculture. Raised beds. The list goes on...
My first attempt on our rental farm in Wisconsin. I tried a bit of everything.
Well, like any good beginning you must have a solid foundation, so I asked myself “what’s the foundation of gardening”? I replied [as I’m inclined to do since the dogs won’t] that the answer is:
Nothing else will make my beginnings successful like a good soil base. Fortunately, I found out composting is enjoyable! I know. Weird. Taking all those bits of food, bills pieces of mail, chicken and rabbit poo and tossing them in my composter is so satisfying [it’s not that weird is it?]. I think it’s the chemistry of it all. If done right there are no flies, no smell and really no fuss. Ok, you guys may freak out when I start to discuss our plans for a humanure composting bin. There’s a deep satisfaction I have that our little farm is doing its part to bring goodness back to the soil. Good old dark, nutrient filled soil to give my oddball heirloom varieties a running start.
So now that we have a foundation, we need a method. As I mentioned above there are many to choose from. Too many to list here. I’ve tried straw-bales, raised beds, containers, mulching, and Square Foot Gardening all with their own success and failures. This time around I’ll be employing a combination of Permaculture and Back to Eden. They resonate with me.
And this is where the foundation and method meet. In other words: soil meets system. Back to Eden is all about the soil prep and mulching. We’ve covered the brilliance of soil prep. Mulching saves watering as it holds the water in like a sponge. Permaculture is centered on a whole systems approach relying on understanding the ecosystem around you. I could go on about Permaculture but let’s just say the whole concept makes sense to me.
Both these methods seem like a perfect fit for our farm but only time will tell. Like most things in life, nothings perfect.
The good news is you’re free to change your mind or switch things up a bit. Using a moon calendar will help me with daily to do’s. Or so it promises, we’ll see. But that’s what all this is about! Laying down a solid foundation so we can establish roots and then having the freedom to explore different ways to grow…wait… am I still talking about gardening?
What are your favorite gardening methods?
