Biointensive Gardening:

About - What this term refers to is the continuing scientific research into traditional gardening and farming methods. Take the Irish Lazy bed, I remember my Grandfather doing a version of this, Initially more work but better returns in the long run. One of it's most basic goals is Sustainability and it achieves this by using different methods together. Ecology Action has been researching for decades what works, we have a link to their site up. Below is a list of what they do and how Greenacre matches up.

Double Digging - Refers to the digging of soil down to a depth of 2feet. Greenacre - We double dig all of our beds.

Composting - This is where material is broken down into a rich fertilizer for the plants. Greenacre - We compost as much as we can & normally have a minimum of 2 compost bins.

Intensive Planting - The growing of plants at equal distance from each other, rather than in straight lines. Greenacre - We use Biointensive spacing for all our plants.

Companion Planting - The growing of plants together that benefit each other. Greenacre - We aren't quite up to speed here but I do use flowers for pest control & follow the veg in a companion rotation.

Carbon Planting - The growing of extra items for the compost heap. Greenacre - This is only getting started next winter 2010 currently the straw that we buy in for the animals is what is used.

Calorie Planting - The growing of plants to feed the full calorie requirements of a person. Greenacre - We are good here but need to improve.

Use of Open Pollinated Seeds - Plants whose seeds can be saved, maintain genetic diversity. Hybrid (ieF1) seeds will not give true plants from their seeds. Greenacre - Thanks to the discovery of Brown Envelope Seeds we finally have some open pollinated, acclimatized seeds. There is a link up on the site/blog.

Whole System Farming - The aim of this is a closed sustainable system where little or nothing is brought onto your garden/farm & you have to use all of the above methods. Greenacre - We aren't there yet but definitely are on our way.

Why is this Important - I can only give our opinion on this as home growers but it seems to me to be common sense, all plants in order to thrive need good soil & you cannot take from the soil (in the form of veg, flowers, grass for animals etc.) on a continual basis without depleting it. It's fertility needs to be nurtured and grown like the plants themselves. This kind of effort can only be a good thing and you will be rewarded in the long term by better harvests with healthier plants.

Ecology Action go into this in much more detail.

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