Dana’ left a comment after reading the post What Are You Doing With Finished Plants?
–––She writes:”Wow! Here all this time I’m thinking I have to set up a proper compost bin, etc. I wish the rest of the gardening world would be talking about this. It makes life much easier! Thank you.”
My reply to why the rest of the world may not be talking about this.
The easy explanation is that there’s not much money to be made by following the recommendations in that post (or in most of my posts).
Advertisers study human nature and how the brain operates.
One of the most important things they learn is: If people hear something repeated enough times it will become truth to them even if it’s a half truth or an outright lie.
That’s how much of society can be brain-washed into believing something that may be totally false or at best a half truth. Being aware can make a big difference.
Thus, it is important to question assumptions and evaluate evidence rather than accepting all information at face value.
It is also good to note that most search engines go along with whatever the popular narrative of the day is. rather than the truth or another view point.That being the case you won’t always get the truth from a search engine.
This makes the point that your source needs to be trustworthy. Therefore, sometimes you need to continue your research..
The only AI I know of based on good information and that lists sources of the information it finds
The only AI that I know of that is based on good information is https://brightanswers.ai/ But thus far in its development it is primarily for questions about health, wellness, ingredients, finance and survival.
My Recomendations are Based on my Experience
Almost all of what I do in the garden I learned by doing. So I know from experience what I recommend will work.
In my early years of gardening I even tested my way of soil preparation with conventional ways. I wanted to make sure what I thought would give the best results would.
I had no backup from so called authoritative sources.
Backup Presented Itself in Time.
As time moved forward I started to learn that the things I had discovered in my garden, others in various parts of the US and the world were discovering the same things. And they were documenting everything as proof. For an ečample of that click here.
A Noted Soil scientist summarizes what he found to be true about soil fertility.
Robert Parnes ran the soil testing facility at Woods End Laboratory in Maine in the 1980s.
For years it was his job to make recommendations for fertilizers to what must have been thousands of farmers and gardeners.
It is his finding that the energy from organic residues is required to maintain soil fertility. And as. he states in his book “there is no substitute”.
If you want to use Compost – keep this in mind
Energy (the greatest benefit to your soil) comes from allowing your residues to recycle in your garden.
Final Thought to Consider
Chemicals came on the scene in a big way after WWII.
It was the way for those companies to create a market for what had been used to make explosives during the war.
For centuries prior to that, farmers sucessfully used residues to keep their soil fertile.
In a previous post I told the story in brief about how NPK fertilizer came into being. Here it is again, but if you want to read the entire post click this link.
Liebig, a German chemist, known as the father of chemical agriculture, who “mistakenly deduced from the ashes of a plant he had burnt that what nourished plants was nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash (or potassium carbonate) – the NPK of today’s chemical agriculture.” By the time Liebig realized his mistake 10 years later – it was too late. “—the chemical companies were off to such a profitable start there was no stopping them —
For more information read the following posts and/or Mr. Parnes’ book that is freely available to the public under a creative commons license. (He maintains copyright, but you can read for free.)
https://tendingmygarden.com/what-are-you-doing-with-finished-plants/
https://tendingmygarden.com/mulching-weeds-annuals-crop-residue-to-the-rescue/
https://tendingmygarden.com/organic-residues-the-needed-energy-for-soil-fertility/
All content including photos is copyright by TendingMyGarden.com. All Rights Reserved.
I love to chop and drop! As a lazy “gardener” it is the best. But being on the lazy side, I miss some weeds and they go to seed. Guess that just means more chop and drop compost when those weeds grow! 🙂 I sometimes make small piles around the yard of things I have cut down. Those piles stay there long enough to block out any other growth which then makes a nice place to plant other things. Yay! I just might have a place now where I need to plant a rose bush.
As always, good stuff, Theresa! And you’re right…if there’s no money to be made in the advice, it will be ignored by the ones with the money.
I hope you’re back to par…at least able to do some of your outdoor activities. I’m glad you have a helper! I’ve scaled back so much, due to my health, as well, It’s frustrating, but I settling with the understanding of I’m not able to do what my brain tells me I can still do.
Hang in there, with the rest of us aging dirtfolks.
Hugs!
This is such helpful information! Thank you for sharing! I hope you’re progressing! Best wishes!
I have to modify this approach somewhat in my own garden just because I can’t abide the proliferation of voles/ field mice that move in when I have a heavy layer of mulch still on the garden in Autumn. Due to the proximity of some large cornfields we get a lot of them here. They have destroyed my perennials and other plants I was overwintering in a little hoophouse.
We have very cold Winters here and they start looking for Winter homes before first frost. So starting in late Summer/ early Fall I can’t have anything lying on the ground or they will move in, in high numbers. I can’t even cover some escarole with floating row cover in October, they will come and eat them starting at the roots.
And, they are just disgusting to me, the way they ruin and befoul everyplace they are with their scat, all over the food.
My modification is to do chop & drop & mulch during the hot season only. It rots away (mostly) readily in Summer. I make compost all Summer with kitchen and yard waste and chipped small green branches of trees. In early Winter I apply an inch of this rough woodsy compost, preferably after the ground has frozen. So there is a layer of residue, not fully decayed but hopefully not deep enough to give cover to rodents.
I understand not everyone has my conditions and this may not be a problem for them.
Good for you Laura, thinking outside the box in dealing with your particular situation.
Thanks for sharing.
Theresa
Thank you, Theresa! I have a question. I just looked at a couple of your posts on keeping lettuce going in the heat. I have put a contraption in my garden- an old rack covered with some old fabric- to cast shade on my main lettuce patch.
Are there any varieties of lettuce that you like for Summer? Varieties that hold better in the heat?
Laura, I want to think on this a bit. I will get back to you.
In the meantime you might try Jericho. It is promoted as being able
to better take the heat.