Symbiosis. What a great word. It means two or more entities working with each other. Our garden is becoming a symbiotic haven this summer.
Firstly I planted corn, beans and squash together under the rows of hay I had put down last fall. I am experimenting with the Ruth Stout method of no till gardening, along with the Native American 'Three Sisters' method of companion planting. I have also planted potatoes and onions under the remaining hay rows.
The corn is doing very well, as are the beans. The squash was a bit of a disaster as I only have two of the twelve seeds I had planted germinate. One thing I have notices with the corn though is that the row that is higher up the hill has grown much faster than the other two. There could be several reasons for this. One is that it gets all the run off from the field when it rains. Another is that when I laid the hay down last year, I used some bales of hay that had spoiled by being left out in the field on the top row. The lower rows had old hay form the barn that had gotten damp. Either way there is a definite different in the growth rate, but not the germination rate. I had almost 100% success rate.
The potatoes have also been very successful as far as plant growth is concerned. I have not harvested any yet so I won't know if the potato yield is successful. I have had a small problem with Colorado Beetle, but we now have a daily ritual where I shake the plants and let the beetles or larvae drop into an old drinks bowl. I then visit Henrietta and Penelope, or two barred rock chickens. When they see me coming with that bowl they start clucking and dancing which I can only think is a chickens way of salivating. I drop those bugs onto a bare patch of ground and they gobble them up in a second.
Doing this is not only a safe way to control the pests, but gives the girls a welcome treat. Symbiosis! I feel we have finally started to advance in our endeavors after two hard years of seeming to get no where.
The chicken coop is moved along once a week and where the chicken have been working that week is raked and then sown with oats. This is then covered with hay. Time will tell if this will work, but it is all part of my no till experiment.
All the seeds I have used this year have been heirloom seeds from Baker Creek and it feels good to know that if I get a harvest from them, they will be wholesome food with a really natural taste. We actually drove over to Baker Creek this Sunday and attended one of their monthly festivals that they run throughout the summer. It was well worth the drive and I encourage any of you if you live near one of the three locations to pay them a visit. You won't be disappointed.
