Regenerative Gardening
Feed Friends, family, and community with hyper nutritious food while also:
-Absorbing More Water and Carbon
-Deterring Cycles of Erosion
-Promoting Biodiversity
-Improve Ecosystem Health
-Improving Soil Health
-No Chemicals or Added Nutrients
And Your Sacrum can find enormous relief from this no till method.
BASIC TENANTS OF REGENERATIVE GARDENING:
-Disturb Soil as Little as Possible (promote dense
microbial undergrowth).
-No Till!
-Continually Layer Organic Matter on Garden
-Always Keep a Live Root in Soil
-More Perennial Crops
-Rotate Crops
-Diversity and More Diversity
Plants Feed Each Other and US
Your Garden Can be Copiously Planned, or Joyously Chaotic
Most important is that herbs, flowers, vegetables, small bushes are all planted to assist one another. Companion Planting and regular rotation are two keys to healthy crops. The Farmers Almanac is great place to start investigating companion planting. Certain plants and herbs will promote nutrient uptake, provide pest control, encourage pollination, and increase crop production. For instance, tomatoes love carrots, marigolds, borage, basil, parsley, and garlic. https://www.thespruce.com/companion-plants-for-tomatoes-1403289
Good Companion Planting Resources: https://www.thespruce.com/companion-planting-with-chart-5025124
https://treevitalize.com/vegetable-herb-pairings-that-make-perfect-companions/
Judith, originator of Transition Your Lawn in her regenerative garden. Clearly, she prefers chaos!
Brilliantly Nutritious Food
"The food grown under regenerative practices contained, on average, more magnesium, calcium, potassium and zinc; more vitamins, including B1, B12, C, E and K; and more phytochemicals, compounds not typically tracked for food but that have been shown to reduce inflammation and boost human health"https://www.washington.edu/news/2022/02/24/farms-following-soil-friendly-practices-grow-healthier-food-study-suggests/ .
Last Year: Beyond canning tons of tomato sauce and having enough squash to see us through to the spring, I was able to donate to the Food Pantry:
-50 lbs of Winter Squash
-30 lbs of Tomatillos
-25 lbs of Sunchoakes
-Endless bunches of kale (not too many smiles when these were delivered!)
Good Resources For New Regenerative Gardeners :
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/build-regenerative-garden/.
https://ecofriendlyhomestead.com/practice-regenerative-gardening-a-beginners-transition-guide/
Great Beginners Guide: https://www.ecofriendlyhomestead.com/sustainable-garden/learn/practice-regenerative-gardening-a-beginners-transition-guide
Soil and Compost to Nurture Your Garden (Massachusetts coastal): Black Earth https://blackearthcompost.com/ Brick End Farm. https://brickendsfarm.com/
Broad Forking: https://www.ecofriendlyhomestead.com/sustainable-garden/learn/broadfork-101-when-to-use-this-regenerative-gardening-tool