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Backyard gardening strategies: Difference between revisions
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Backyard gardening strategies (view source)
Revision as of 14:44, 17 September 2023
, 17 September 2023→General principles: breaking the paragraph in two
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Scissors, scythes, and sickles don't use fossil fuels or energy like lawn mowers or weed eaters. Lawn mowers, especially riding lawn mowers, might compact the soil, too, making it difficult for the soil to absorb water, and that would increase runoff, erosion, and drought. You could also have more control with a little scythe blade and get in between some plants you want to save. | Scissors, scythes, and sickles don't use fossil fuels or energy like lawn mowers or weed eaters. Lawn mowers, especially riding lawn mowers, might compact the soil, too, making it difficult for the soil to absorb water, and that would increase runoff, erosion, and drought. You could also have more control with a little scythe blade and get in between some plants you want to save. | ||
=== General principles === | === General principles === | ||
You could leave and study other plants that aren't grass because they might benefit you, wildlife, and/or the soil. After cutting grass, you could use the cut grass as mulch for the plants you want to keep or especially the seedlings who grew from seeds you sowed. Mulch reduces the need for irrigation, and if you can depend on the rain for irrigation, then you can conserve water, work less, and live more aligned with nature who may reward you with automatic bounties. If you can avoid tilling, then you can leave the soil intact, which will contribute to the health of the soil especially after a few years unless the soil has already been undisturbed for a few years. Sometimes, you have to transplant a plant or dig up a root vegetable or a tuber, but otherwise, you might want to imitate nature by sowing seeds. Try not to fence out rabbits, squirrels, and deer because if your garden is natural, they are a part of it, and just as you could grow enough to share with people, you could share with animals and insects, too. By growing companion herbs, you could eliminate or reduce the amount of insects. | You could leave and study other plants that aren't grass because they might benefit you, wildlife, and/or the soil. After cutting grass, you could use the cut grass as mulch for the plants you want to keep or especially the seedlings who grew from seeds you sowed. Mulch reduces the need for irrigation, and if you can depend on the rain for irrigation, then you can conserve water, work less, and live more aligned with nature who may reward you with automatic bounties. | ||
If you can avoid tilling, then you can leave the soil intact, which will contribute to the health of the soil especially after a few years unless the soil has already been undisturbed for a few years. Sometimes, you have to transplant a plant or dig up a root vegetable or a tuber, but otherwise, you might want to imitate nature by sowing seeds. Try not to fence out rabbits, squirrels, and deer because if your garden is natural, they are a part of it, and just as you could grow enough to share with people, you could share with animals and insects, too. By growing companion herbs, you could eliminate or reduce the amount of insects. | |||