Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Natural Solutions for My Garden



I am currently reading Paradise Lot by Eric Toensmeier  The goal of creating a self sustaining food network in my very own yard has always appealed to me. I have dabbled in techniques including Lasagna GardeningSquare Foot Gardening and of course traditional row and mound gardening. I have had the most success with combining lasagna and square foot principles to create my own version of small space super growing.

This year my life was full of unknowns, so much of my garden was planted into pots that could go where ever we did. By the time we realized we would be staying right where we are, I had an interesting array of volunteers in this bed, so I just went with it. Coming up from the leftovers of last year and the mulch of winter I had a great start. There are purple and gold potatoes down front, one stalk of corn, melons of yet to be determined species (looking like catalope of some sort from the leaves), one towering sunflower and some sort of pink flowing something. To that I added one pear tomato, lots of sweet onions and a couple of leftover strawberry plants from the clearance bin. As you can see it is lush and healthy.

I don't use fertilizers or pesticides in the garden, but I do use essential oils. I also practice crop rotation and encourage natural predators such as birds to spend time near the garden. The graphic below shows a few of my favorites when it comes to oils in the garden.



I think that is a great place to leave the gardening adventure for today. May I recommend that you take some time to get out into the garden today and try out some Natural Solutions! Until next time, make it a wonderful and magical one.


Stephanie