|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot
On the Garden Path began a year ago with Greetings From the Garden Path, a weekly email newsletter sent to customers of The Garden Path Organic Plant Nursery in Victoria. Each week Carolyn wrote about what she was doing in the garden, the orchard, the greenhouse, with seed saving and soil building, with the intention of helping gardeners of all levels realize they can have the most healthy, productive and beautiful garden without resorting to substances harmful to humans, animals, wildlife, plants, worms or the myriad of soil-dwelling organisms.
I’m an old-fashioned girl at heart, often wishing I could turn the clock back to slower and saner times. I especially feel this when it comes to the modern practices of farming and gardening. That’s because so many farmers and gardeners have come to rely on huge inputs of synthetic chemical substances - herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, which we now know cause havoc to the environment, to our health and to the delicate web of soil life.
It’s strange to think that only 70 years ago people relied on small-scale family farms, local markets and home gardens for fresh fruits, vegetables and livestock. The Victorians were judged at dinner parties for their prowess in the kitchen garden, where both the food served and the decorative flowers were held in great esteem. Nutritious vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers were produced without the inputs of synthetic chemicals that are depended upon today. Natural source materials in excess, such as horse and cow manure, were the mainstay of small-scale agriculture then.
When I started my first garden maintenance business, Forget-Me-Not Gardening Services, I was shocked to discover customers’ sheds and garages full of toxic chemical products with names such as diazinon, 2,4-D, methoxychlor, malathion, benomyl and mecoprop. I was expected to use these products routinely throughout the year, and was required to pass a pesticide applicator licence test just to be a gardener. The belief was that without these products a garden could not thrive. This is what initially led me to gardening organically, and then to my passion for heritage plants and historic gardening practices.
Modern farming also depends on such products to maximize yields for greater profits. It is not focused on soil health, plant diversity, seed saving or the protection of wildlife. It is only recently that the detrimental impacts of modern farming have even been acknowledged. Referred to as agribusiness, modern farming is clearly disconnected from the natural cycles of life. Seasonal spraying of millions of gallons of pesticides over fields, into soil and onto food leaves me with a feeling of deep despair. This pales in comparison to the dread I feel about the genetic manipulation of plant genes and even worse, the exchange of genetic material between species from different kingdoms, now routine in the biotechnology of farming. Pandora’s box has been opened, and there’s no going back now, as these human-created plant mutants have already cross fertilized with wild plants of the same species.
After millennia of miraculous evolution surely Mother Nature knows best? Hers is a power and creation worthy of utmost respect, but this power is not respected by our ceaseless drive to exploit, control and replicate the mystical powers of nature. It is with pure wonder, humility and boundless joy that, as an organic gardener, I try my best to understand and co-create with Mother Nature, not work against her.
Diversity rules in nature. Whether it comes to plants, animals, insects or microbes, or the elements of rock, water and air, all exist in exquisite and vital interdependent relationships with one another. When I interplant vegetables with flowers, herbs and small fruits, plants that attract pollinators and beneficial insects, all co-exist in perfect balance, taking care of pesky problems as they arise. I love knowing that the native bees, butterflies, hoverflies and parasitic wasps flitting about my garden are keeping everything in harmony and balance. My role is only to attract them and encourage them to stick around by providing drinking water and plants to feed them.
Number one in my garden is feeding the soil, which nurtures the myriad of microorganisms that dwell in it. It’s all about the microbes, responsible for breaking organic matter down into humus, and for making nutrients available to plants. I spend the dormant season, November to March, adding natural amendments to the garden, so I can grow healthy plants resilient to pests and diseases. This means I rarely spend time dealing with pesky problems, and have more time to enjoy my beautiful garden. My happiest times are spent hauling trailer loads of manure or buckets of seaweed. Whoever said “the best things in life are free” was so right!
Carolyn will be doing a book signing at the first Organic Island Festival in Victoria, detail at www.organicislands.ca and on page 18 of this issue of Common Ground.
From A Year on the Garden Path, A 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide by Carolyn Herriot. $29.95. Earthfuture Publications, Victoria, BC. Available from Banyen Books and Duthie Books or
www.earthfuture.com/gardenpath
Carolyn Herriot has been operating The Garden Path Organic Plant Nursery in Victoria since 1989, from which grew her organic seed business, Seeds of Victoria. Carolyn shares her passion for gardening by way of lectures and as a garden writer, and appears weekly on Get Up and Grow and the Go show on Global and CHTV.
 Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
