How to Have your own Outrageous Garden!

One strawbale garden, coming up!

So what’s the “secret” to these quirky little gardens I love so much?  The organic scavenger-throw-together growing system that pretty much works anywhere? The answer is: Think like Mother Nature!

I am quite certain that what we call gardens are simply energetic relationships that manifest through the intention of soil, seeds, water, air and sunlight brought together all in one place.  People at our workshops watch us throw together some newspaper, dried leaves, spoiled hay or grass clippings, some not quite decomposed compost, maybe some pumice stones or even cola cans, toss them into a tire or wading pool or a rectangle of straw bales– VOILA! –they see a garden. I see the Universe. But that’s another blog.

There is a teeny bit more to forming a useful, nutritious and fairly all-purpose, growing medium.  So perhaps the real “secret” is in the way all those items are placed in a growing container or piled on top of a piece of ground. I have a system that I like to use but you can design your own based around the materials you have available in your area and following a basic procedure of layering.

When you have collected all your organic matter together and are ready to put together the growing area, this is what you’ll do:

Stack each of the various layers of material one on top the next after creating a weed barrier of thick layers of newspaper or cardboard.  Next is a base or bottom layer to provide water absorption; then an aeration (breathing space) layer; then a slow-release organic nutrients layer; and finally a topping of finished compost and topsoil with a dusting of bone meal, rock phosphate or wood ashes, where the seedlings and seeds will get started.

Cross-section of the various layers in straw bale garden.

But wait a minute, you say. Is that all there is to it?  Well, yes and no.  There are some general guidelines about the way each layer works as part of the whole.  What will be a bit different depending on your area, climate, time of year, are the organic materials you will have available.

We’ve gotten so many requests for a handout on this,  that I created a guide with photos and diagrams so folks at workshops would no longer have to scribble furiously on notebooks or the back of envelopes while we demonstrated. [ You will be able to order a copy of  The Secret of Outrageous Gardens right here soon as PDF for $5.00 and proceeds are used to support the work of several organizations uprooting hunger in various parts of the world. See my Resources page and thanks for helping out.]

Backyard at the Zemach residence.

If you’re still not convinced that thick layers of organic mulch, water harvesting as opposed to irrigation, and a wide diversity of interplanted herbs, edibles and perennials can’t possibly happen in high desert, enjoy these photos taken at Mary Zemach’s annual permaculture tour of her residence in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Her home was the cover photo for Toby Hemenway’s first edition of Gaia’s Garden, a must-read for anyone feeling the urging to restore their particular section of the planet to health while claiming all the moisture we’re gifted in the form of rain. There were a multitude of straw bales in evidence throughout her property.

Mary Zemach with some very happy horseradish.

Thank you, Miss Mary, for your willingness to share your experience, your wisdom, your wit and joy, and your commitment to the Earth with so many people over the years.

While I’m staying in the abundantly beautiful Great Smokey Mountains, I’m surrounded it seems with every kind of small grower, CSA, organic farm, free range livestock you can imagine.  Sustainable agriculture is ALIVE AND WELL in western North Carolina. I’ll let you know more about this bountiful state in a later post. Right now I just want to head into the picturesque town of Sylva, NC and enjoy a vegan dessert and a glass of wine.

[Artwork by Christina Bouajila www.crewnewmexico.com/creativeartist]

From Farmers’ Almanac (Gardening by the Moonsigns):

July 2011
28th-29th Most Fruitful Days For Planting Root Crops. Excellent For Sowing Seedbeds And Flower Gardens. Good Days For Transplanting.
30th-31st A Most Barren Period. Kill Plant Pests And Do General Farm Work.

August 2011
1st-2nd A Barren Time. Best For Killing Weeds, Briars, Poison Ivy, And Other Plant Pests. Clear Woodlots And Fencerows.
3rd-4th Good Days For Planting Aboveground Crops. Excellent For Sowing Grains, Winter Wheat, Oats, And Rye. Plant Flowers.
5th-7th Plant Peas, Beans, Tomatoes, Peppers And Other Aboveground Crops, In Southern Florida, California, And Texas. Extra Good For Leafy Vegetables. Plant Seedbeds.
8th-9th Cut Winter Wood, Do Clearing And Plowing, But No Planting.
10th-12th A Good Time To Plant Aboveground Crops.
13th-14th Barren Days. Fine For Killing Plant Pests.
15th-17th Favorable Days For Planting Root Crops, Fine For Vine Crops. Good Days For Transplanting.
18th-19th Barren Days. Do No Planting.
20th-21st Root Crops That Can Be Planted Now Will Yield Well. Good Days For Transplanting.
22nd-23rd Any Seeds Planted Now Will Tend To Rot.
24th-25th Most Favorable Days For Planting Beets, Onions, Turnips, And Other Root Crops. Plant Seedbeds And Flower Gardens. Good Days For Transplanting.
26th-29th A Barren Time. Best For Killing Weeds, Briars, Poison Ivy, And Other Plant Pests. Clear Woodlots And Fencerows.
30th-31st Good Days For Planting Aboveground Crops. Excellent For Sowing Grains, Winter Wheat, Oats, And Rye. Plant Flowers.

NEXT UP: Saving seeds is empowering and fun (not to mention, necessary!)