I tend to follow the natural path of the seasons. I like to hibernate in the winter, but it is a busy season to be a gardener. Cleaning out beds can be quite a chore, but a healthy bed is important for growth.
Many gardeners use the tilling method this time of year to incorporate the decomposing leaves and organic material into the soil. However, this can be very damaging and ineffective. Tilling your soil is like a person putting lotion on an open wound. It can burn and even damage the skin. Creating a “no till” garden is ideal. You can do this by cover cropping with red clover, perennial rye and oats. This will help your soil to get trace minerals and nutrients, paving the way for Mycorrhizal fungi to be established. Mycorrhizal fungi work with the root system of almost every single living plant on our planet, which is impressive and amazing.
I have been trying to bring native fungi into my garden beds and soil by creating fungal compost tea. I have collected soil from different mountain ranges around Patagonia. I put the soil into a cheese cloth, fill up a bucket halfway with water, use a pump for aeration and add a little seaweed or molasses to feed the fungus. The whole process takes about 24 hours, after which you have a rich fungus tea that can be spread over the yard and beds.
Many yards are depleted of nutrients and healthy minerals. This method will create a stable fungal environment that we know will thrive here. Fungi are the single most important component in, and for, a healthy soil.
Fairly recently it has been shown that plants and trees use the branches, or threads, of the “fungus among us” to communicate, defend one another, and help one another grow and thrive. The term ‘Wood Wide Web” has been coined for this interaction. For example, if one of your plants is being attacked by aphids, it can communicate to other plants, sending out an S.O.S through the root system to the fungi threads that then travel to other root systems in turn. The other plants will pull together to produce chemicals that it may need to ward off the insect.
This communication takes place because the root system and the fungus work together. Plants and trees are in constant communication exchanging all sorts of information.
I was amazed at the intricate and beautiful way that plants support one another and communicate, a relationship that has been growing for millions of years. It made me appreciate my garden and soil so much more.
I now fully understand the importance of natural sustainable materials in a yard. We steer clear of gravel and use wood chips to build the soil and create more places for fungi to thrive. We use chemical free “friendly fertilizers” that we make ourselves, and we nourish the soil because we are growing food that feeds our family and friends.
Just like that fungi/plant relationship we also want a healthy relationship with our plants that gives us minerals and nutrients from our garden. Nature doth thus kindly heal every wound. By the mediation of a thousand little mosses and fungi, the most unsightly objects become radiant of beauty.
There seem to be two sides of this world, presented to us at different times, as we see things growth and dissolution, in life or death. And seen with the eye of the poet, as God sees them, all things alive are beautiful.
Henry David Thoreau