Ways to Grow Vegetables in Eco-friendly Backyard Gardens

We all know how much hard work there is in growing vegetables - digging, weeding, crop rotation, watering, fertilizing, planting winter crops, resting beds, spraying pests and weeds - the list goes on and on.

The term Ecological Gardening seems to be gaining popularity. Imagine a vegetable garden that didn’t need any of these things.  Eco-friendly Gardening aims to create a system where nature works for us, and not against us.

Traditionally gardening was done in the soil in small rows, primarily for home consumption and with the surplus products sold in nearby markets – however, traditional vegetable gardens require large amount of hard work and care to get best results.  There is also the problem of seasonality, allowing beds to rest during the cooler months producing nothing at all. It takes a lot of time, dedication and a year-round commitment to grow your own food the traditional way. 

You will find that the traditional vegetable gardening techniques are focused mostly on problems. Imagine a traditional vegetable garden, planted with rows of various vegetables.  There are fairly large bare patches between the vegetables. But to an ecologist, a bare patch is an empty niche space.   Nature does not tolerate empty niche spaces and the most successful niche space fillers are weeds.

Modern day fertilizers kill the soil biology which is very important in building soil structure and plant nutrient availability.  The soil will eventually turn into a dead substance that doesn’t have the correct balance of nutrients to grow fully developed foods.  The foods will actually lack vitamins and minerals.

Any ecologically-based garden mimics nature in such a way that the garden looks and acts like a natural ecosystem.  Going for eco-friendly organic vegetable gardening will have the following advantages:

·         Set up a garden that produces many times more than a traditional vegetable garden.

·         Set up a garden that only requires 8 hours of light easy effort per year

·         Grow food that you can harvest every single day of the year, no matter where you live.

·         Set up a garden that never needs digging, has virtually no weeds!

·         Use only compost/manure to feed the plants and nourish the soil.

·         Grow vegetables and fruit organically in your home backyard.

The biggest challenge that faces modern agricultural practices is to incorporate pest ecology, plant ecology, soil ecology and crop management into a method that is reliable and efficient. Succession layering of plants offers natural pest management since beneficial insects can be used to pollinate the plants and to rid the plants of pest insects.

Ecological gardening can easily prevent a number of problems from ever arising in the gardening. Besides, this garden produces many times more than a traditional vegetable garden and regenerates itself year after year. 

In conclusion, the study of natural ecosystems reveals everything we need to know about growing food. After all, Mother Nature has been doing it this way for millions of years.

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