By Devon Brugh
Have you ever considered how our world is divided? We have an uneven division of leaning to water and areas considered to be land. Consider the areas of land for a second. Yet what do they consist of? Are they long flat fields for farming; or covered with trees, mountains or other natural landmarks? Or has the land been divided by roads and houses to create the cities and towns we live in. Upon closer review of all the areas defined as land only 10% is considered usable for agriculture. That seems like an awfully small amount of land to be available to sustain the needs of our ever growing population.
Hence Junior’s Farm was created; a pesticide free garden allowing us to be more sustainable on own resources than relying on the produce at the grocery. Now that we had somewhat workable soil we began to plot out our garden. This isn’t as easy as some people realize. One, if they are being conscious of the plant and soil needs, doesn’t just create rows and plant whatever they feel like. Different plants pull different nutrients from the garden at different rates. By organizing the way the vegetables are laid out, less stress is placed on the soil and produces stronger plants. Secondly for us our soil was still on the fragile side. Over stressing the nutrient demand would negate efforts already spent. One way we attempted to reduce the strain when planting was adding a small layer of compost at the bottom of the hole or trench. We then covered it with a very small layer of soil then planted the seeds or start on top.
When all said and done our efforts were well rewarded. We had a great harvest that not only sustained our family of two, our immediate family, and still was able to assist in supplementing fresh vegetables for our neighbor’s family of four and our neighbor in the back struggling on a tight income.
Seeing how the garden not only helped us, but those around us we wanted to continue making the soil healthy and still obtain a decent yield. One method we follow is rotating our various plants. We never grow the same vegetable in the same area for two years in a row. This allows for the soil to recoup and a different plant will aide in replenishing the system. There are years we don’t plant anything at all in section just compost and till and let it rest. We use a binder to keep track of what was planted where the previous year.
Cornell University. (1976). Science of Life Exploration. Retrieved September 29, 2013, from What is Soil: http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/teaching_ipm/sole/land/what_is_soil.pdf
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