It took me 40 years to discover the joy of gardening. Ever since I sowed a handful of watercress seeds in a plastic cup filled with compost at the age of six, I have never experienced the thrill of seeing green life fully formed from brown soil.
Like so many others, the Covid lockdown was an opportunity to rediscover the wonders of nature just behind the black doors. Gardening is the perfect antidote to the curse of today's news. it takes us back to the eternal cycle of life, death and renewal that we are all a part of. However, we humans have made gardening, like sowing, planting and watering, terribly difficult.
A doctor by training, I know very well how to technically deceive others, and now, as a gardener, I am confused in a forest of favors and strange rituals. What is a perennial plant? What is mulch? Our adult egos make us feel uncomfortable asking.
Old timer or newbie, I bet you're confused by Latin names, cryptic words, or maybe wondering if you should put "cauldron" under your pot. Here I explain the misunderstandings and pseudosciences that grow faster than clover in the garden.
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1. Using a spade does not help the soil, it can ruin it
Soil is the most valuable part of your garden, but it has been misused over the years. We were told that digging would remove weeds, reduce "shrinkage" by increasing aeration, or improve drainage and increase soil fertility. Modern research shows that the opposite is true. Farmers around the world are adopting and even abandoning plows in favor of more efficient non-soil methods.
200 grams of soil contains 100 billion bacteria, 5,000 insects, arachnids, worms, molluscs and tiny fungal filaments that you could easily hold in your hand and if they were consumed, they would stretch for 100 kilometers. These incredibly complex and interconnected systems of life keep the soil healthy and nourish and protect all the plants rooted in it.
Healthy soil also has a spongy texture that crumbles and compacts easily. Air and water flow freely through a vast network of microscopic tunnels in the soil that support all life within. However, after being cultivated with a spade, this architecture remains a ruin.
Each shovels weeds through the myriad fungal filaments through which plants obtain nutrients and water, destroying the many tunnels created by worms and excavating dormant microbes that digest plants, stimulate their feeding, and then release greenhouse gas ice. . Excavated soil actually becomes dense, compacted, and airless ("compressed"). So make sure you keep a shovel in the shed unless it's for planting and moving seedlings, or perhaps for composting.
Instead, you protect soil structure and nourish its valuable invisible ecosystem (called the soil "food web"), suppressing weed growth and reducing the need for watering simply by "mulching" with organic matter, especially garden compost.
"Mulch" means to put something on the ground. "Organic matter" means any dead, decomposing or decomposing matter derived from a living organism (such as a plant or animal), and may include leaves, grass clippings, bark or wood chips.
In the space between the mulch and the soil, insects, small bugs, earthworms and microscopic organisms work to digest this organic matter embedded in the soil without the need for actual "digging".
2. Gravel in the pot will not change the moisture level.
Many houseplants struggle with dry air in homes with central heating. Placing a plant in a container of gravel and water may look pretty, but it won't change the humidity around the leaves. Also, don't spray the leaves with a fine mist that evaporates in seconds. Instead, put moisture-loving tropical plants in the bathroom.
3. Composting is actually easy and can save the planet.
Compost is an excellent soil nutrient that increases plant growth when incorporated into the soil. It's easy to make from common garden and kitchen waste, and you're doing your bit for the planet too. Food waste is a major climate crime. Every kilogram of food waste you throw away is equivalent to about 2 kilograms of carbon dioxide rising from the landfill into the sky, the equivalent of burning a liter of petrol.
We all know that apple cores, vegetable peels and bread scraps turn into brown porridge. However, in the lower toxic cauldron that is the landfill, microscopic air-breathing organisms usually decompose the dead matter, suffocating under paper, plastic, cans, and broken television screens. Underground bacterial organisms work instead of them.
Anaerobic ("oxygen-free") demons of darkness ferment our buried food into acids, alcohols, and methane gases that rise into the atmosphere. Skin composting mimics the natural recycling process and can be incredibly simple; Simply collect your food scraps (including eggshells and coffee grounds) - ideally finely chopped - in a large airtight container and mix them with roughly equal amounts of dry organic matter such as shredded. paper , brown. Fallen leaves and/or cardboard.
Top up with a 50-50 mix and stir occasionally to let all the germs breathe, and after a few months you'll have a brown crumbly substance that looks nothing like the one you kept. Add it to your garden by planting it in bare soil or adding health to anything growing there. Or gift it to someone with a garden and you'll have a new best friend
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4. Most common traps are ineffective
Ditch the idea that eggshells, copper wire, or beer traps will protect your host from being spoiled by roaches, or your salad from being spoiled by crustaceans. The thick stomachs of these molluscs easily pass through obstacles, and while snails are drawn to the intoxicating aroma of beer, only a handful of unfortunate souls drown in the drink.
5. Not all soils are suitable for all plants.
If you plan to grow in containers, you will need something to plant the seeds on. Garden soil is not suitable for small containers because it compacts and aerates quickly when separated from the living, breathing soil ecosystem. So the top layer, mistakenly called "compost," is an online shopping list. But which one to buy? Expect surprises.
Compost seed, pot, bark or peat-free? Gardening magazines and websites recommend buying seed compost, "vegetable" or "pot" compost, and mature plant compost, even though research shows that buying these composts is usually not cost-effective; good quality multipurpose compost is a must. how effective
Plants that grow in acidic soils (rhododendrons, gamelias, and pireas, etc.) will do well if they choose an acid compound called "ericaceae," named after the family of acid plants called "ericaceae." However, try to avoid compost containing peat, which should really be left alone.
Peat (a “forgotten fossil fuel”), prized for its spongy water-absorbing properties, is black soil collected from bogs and bogs. The peat industry is destroying rare habitat, and every cubic meter of carbon dioxide is emitted from prehistoric rainforests that have been closed for millennia; it's like burning coal to keep your petunias looking good.
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6. Don't worry about watering your plants in the sun
Don't worry about watering your plants outside in the hot summer sun, which can cause the leaves to burn. The so-called "lensing effect," in which the droplets appear to focus the sun's rays onto the leaves, never actually occurs, in part because the droplets evaporate so quickly. When the plants are thirsty, give them a drink.
Forget scheduling houseplant watering reminders and instead water according to their changing needs throughout the year. Overwatering is the number one cause of houseplant death.
A piece of broken clay or gravel in the bottom of the pot reduces dehydration and prevents fungal root rot. In fact, science proves that potted plants are no better without them. Worse yet, adding them can prevent good drainage, causing more water to pool in the container.
7. Ignore city hives
Wealthy city dwellers often set up beehives to help our beloved pollinators, which are in decline due to climate change, habitat destruction and pollution, but these hives do more harm than good. Most likely, the new hive will host an indifferent colony of bees (which are not endangered), consume nearby nectar and pollen, and starve out local pollinators such as bumblebees, solitary bees, flies, and butterflies.
The situation is worse because due to lack of food, these hives rarely produce good honey and are often abandoned due to damage.
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