Ask Deb

[Sherry]

Dear Deb,

I am so excited to be able to be a part of this community! I respect you and your husband so much! Also, I love your products! I have been gardening for three years now and absolutely love it! I would like to follow the nature of permaculture as much as possible. I do not till the garden. I practice crop rotation and companion planting. Last year I started using electroculture and am very excited about planning the garden for this year. I was wondering if I should just cut last years plants down as far as possible or if I can gently pull them out? I am concerned about disturbing the established micobiome.

Also, as far as ever adding anything to the garden I have mainly just used organic kelp and the compost that I make. I have had a fantastic population of bumble bees, birds and other insects. Do you think that there is anything thing else naturally to add naturally? Someone suggested basalt.

Much love and peace to you!

Sherry Cordivari

Discussion

[deborah]

Sherry,

Happy New Year and thanks for reaching out. I understand your concern about protecting the integrity of the soil and the beneficial organisms that exist there. One technique I use is the gentle removal of the finished plants and I then bury them back into the bed, This provides compost and keeps a renewing process in the soil. We have a high amount of rainfall here so I have no problem with them breaking down completely during the winter. In addition I add a powder that is naturally occurring called Azomite. It provides much needed trace minerals that gets leached out of the soil in extreme areas of rainfall, which in our case is the Pacific Northwest. Two of my other favorites to add are organic worm castings and organic compost. These will help fluff up the soil if it has begun to settle and get dense. Be sure to buy certified organic however if you decide to add any amendments. FYI the reason I do not have a compost pile is due to the remote location that we live in. It’s not unusual to see bear, fox and raccoon in our area roaming even during the day. A compost pile would only encourage a visit from them and a mess as well.

I hope this helps. Please offer any tips or benefits for the garden that you may come across.

We’re so happy you’ve joined us!

[Sherry]

Dear Deb,

Happy New Year to you and your loved ones as well! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my questions. Your suggestions are most helpful. That is a fantastic idea to compost the plants back into the soil! I am going to try this. It makes such sense to do that. I will try your suggestion of azomite and organic worm castings. I can’t wait to see what transpires from this. I completely understand why you do not have a compost pile under those circumstances. We are on the east coast by Atlantic City. We rarely have bears only deer and sometimes foxes. As a new gardener I am having such fun with experimentation. There are few things that I have tried that I have not watched for too long to say how they have affected the garden. Although I have been very pleased with the results so far. I would suggest intention with planting. I do pray over my garden daily, I have tried putting the seeds in my mouth and soaking them before planting, I placed wind chimes around the area, add my ash from the woodstove, buried about one hundred quartz crystals to increase the electricity, buried electroculture poles and I try to use copper digging tools. I also have multiple bird feeders around the garden.

These are all fun things to try and I hope someone else could benefit from this as well.

Thank you for all that you and Barre do you are appreciated!

Sincerely,

Sherry

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