(gentle music)
- Hello, and a very warm welcome back to the garden.
Now I love a new growing season.
The reason why is it always gives me a chance
to try out new things and that's something I really enjoy.
And in this video, I wanna talk about why
my own gardening journey is changing,
why it's going down a different direction,
and to actually discuss and encourage you
to explore the things that you also enjoy the most
when you're out here, growing food.
As a no dig gardener,
I have a huge emphasis on the health
of the gardens I'm tending,
and I feel this great responsibility
for the health of the plants, for the soil,
and for the natural world around me.
And I need to make sure that every decision
that I do in the garden needs to benefit
at least one of these three categories.
Now if I can get all three, then I know I'm on to a winner.
Now you might be thinking,
where does a gardener come into the equation?
And I honestly believe that as gardeners,
we should almost see ourselves as part of the natural world
because when we think about it, we originate from nature.
And at the moment we kind of have this attitude
where nature is only a place for us to visit,
but really we can play a big role in bringing nature back.
And I think no dig is one of the things.
Because of that disconnection that we've had from nature,
we've seen a lot of destruction,
and so what I feel is that a garden is one of the ways
that we can bridge the gap between destruction
and a poor attitude in respect to the soil
with actually the natural world.
And that's why no dig works so well.
For me, no dig gardening is always
gonna be the foundation to how I grow food.
Now, any good chef will tell you that mise en place
starts in the garden or on the farm.
And the healthier that the soil is
that the food is produced on,
the more nutritious it's gonna be,
the more tasty it's gonna be as well.
And as gardeners, we're really fortunate
because we get to experience firsthand
super good food that is really flavorful
and as fresh as possible.
And the reason why I like no dig so much
is because that emphasis on soil health.
Not only are you working hard as a gardener,
all the soil biology is working hard as well
to grow you the best plants possible.
(gentle music)
So why is this video about me moving beyond no dig?
Well, as I just mentioned,
it always stays as a core foundation,
but it kind of actually ties in to a lot
of what I did last year.
I did a whole year of intuitive gardening,
and I really relished that opportunity to be experimental.
And in all honesty, I felt that just using no dig
and kind of just sticking to compost
and then different planting methods
wasn't making growing food interesting enough for me.
And I want to look at how I can bring that excitement
of experimentation whilst building upon no dig
by bringing in other similar schools of thought
to really try and hone in
and find a way that we can not only grow food,
but we can improve the soil,
and we can also improve the nature
and the wildlife around us as well as our communities.
So no dig is great because it's a step towards nature.
The key focus and goal is if you focus on the soil health,
you'll then get better plants.
So feed the soil and the soil feeds the plants.
Now I've been quite interested in this whole soil idea
because it's kind of this misunderstood thing
or a thing that we, even though we work with it
as gardeners practically every day,
there's so much that even scientists don't know about it.
The one thing that is becoming more apparent
is that there's actually a two-way relationship.
So not only is the soil feeding the plants,
but plants also in turn feed the soil.
So how do plants feed the soil?
Well, what they do is through photosynthesis,
some plants give up to 25% of their sugars back to the soil.
And you think why on earth would they do this?
Well, actually carbon is the energy source
for the microbiology in the soil.
So the soil microbes use carbon as energy
to then go about doing their jobs
of breaking down, digesting nutrients,
and making them plant-available.
So it's in the plant's best interest to send these sugars,
which is basically sugars are a form of carbon,
to supply that energy to get that exchange of nutrients.
Now, photosynthesis for most plants,
especially in any garden,
isn't working at a hundred percent efficiency.
And one of the really simple ways that we can start
increasing the efficiency of photosynthesis of the plants
is by applying natural broad spectrum mineral amendments
from things that are grown in our backyard
where nature, for example, these nettles,
to make things like fermented plant juice
or mineral extracts
that we can then foliar feed onto our plants.
So there you get those instant nutrients,
which will then improve the photosynthesis,
send down more sugars,
and then you have that amazing cycle
of not only the soil health helping the plants,
but the plants promoting and helping the soil health.
And I think as gardeners,
we're actually really missing out this opportunity
if we're not diving into this amazing thing.
So there are many ways of gardening,
and my time of being exclusively no dig has come to an end
'cause I can't feel that I'm missing out
from what truly excites me the most.
And this is very personal,
as gardening should be for anyone,
and that's by pushing the boundaries.
I've quite a big wishlist.
I want to grow as much food as possible,
to grow the best soil as possible,
to help as much nature as possible all in the same space.
And if I just limit myself to no dig,
personally, I feel that I'm missing out
from bringing in other methods from right around the world,
which are gonna really help benefit
by working together and achieving a lot more.
I think in this day and age,
we're always looking for that one answer.
What is that one solution to this particular problem?
What is one way that we can get the most from something?
And I've come to realize that there isn't one way,
and instead, it's about taking lots of different methods,
finding the best part about each method,
and really celebrating that.
So I really see the way that my gardening,
as my own personal journey,
is really transforming into bringing in
lots of different ideas,
whether it's from JADAM
Korean Natural Farming,
biodynamic, permaculture, regenerative agriculture.
It's just looking at what personally
and perhaps intuitively make sense to me,
and that'll help then guide the ways
that I grow food in this garden.
(gentle music)
I'm really looking forward
to seeing how this hybrid approach to gardening goes.
And I'm looking forward to sharing with you the successes
and perhaps more importantly, the failures.
But I just wanna reiterate the fact
that gardening's a very personal thing,
but I thought I had to tell you the direction
that I'm heading, just so you can understand why
there'll be particular videos about particular things.
Now, if you do want a lot of detail
and a lot more of the thought processes
behind why I do a lot of things,
then I invite you to join my Patreon
where there's a lot of exclusive videos
and behind-the-scenes exploring that kind of stuff.
So if you have any questions,
or perhaps you are thinking along similar lines,
please don't hesitate to leave them
down below in the comments.
And I look forward to seeing you again next week