BIODYNAMICS FOR THE HOME GARDENER

a holistic yet individually adaptable approach to gardening

without artificial chemicals

 

Organic gardening means you do not use synthetic (i.e. derived from petroleum) fertilizers, pesticides, or weed killers. You can use plant-based pesticides like rotenone and fertilizers like kelp.

BIODYNAMIC gardening goes beyond organic gardening. It is a philosophy. Ideally, no purchased "inputs" of any kind are used other than seed.

BIODYNAMICS is a method of gardening that seeks to actively work with the health-giving forces of nature. It is the oldest non-chemical agricultural movement, predating the organic agriculture movement by some twenty years, and has now spread throughout the world.

BIODYNAMICS wants gardeners to broaden their perspective. To understand plant life we must expand our view to include all that affects plant growth. Plants are utterly open to and formed by influences from the depths of the earth to the heights of the heavens.

BIODYNAMICS calls for the association of producers and consumers for their mutual benefit. The rapidly spreading Community Supported Agriculture movement was in fact born in the BIODYNAMIC movement.

Here are the important tenants of BIODYNAMICS:

GROW THE SOIL

When people ask me what I grow, I say "the soil." Plant life is intimately bound up with the life of the soil. BIODYNAMICS recognizes that soil itself can be alive, and this vitality supports and affects the quality and health of the plants that grow in it. Chemical agriculture has developed short cuts to quantity by adding soluble minerals to the soil. The plants take these up via water thus bypassing their natural ability to seek from the soil what is needed. The result is a deadened soil and artificially stimulated growth, all at the expense of quality.

Planting nitrogen-fixing cover crops (“green manure”) builds stable humus and natural fertility in the soil and keeps weeds from taking over. Compost built from our own garden wastes helps too. I keep chickens for the eggs but also for the poop. Chicken manure from free-range hens greatly enhances compost.

Healthy soil = healthy plants = disease and pest resistance.

Plants are not defenseless – don’t force them to become dependent on artificial chemical pesticides.

From the National Geographic, Feb. 2004:

…When lima bean plants are attacked by spider mites they call out the cavalry, emitting a chemical distress signal that attracts carnivorous mites that eat the spider mites. The signal inspires nearby uninfested lima bean plants to do the same thing. Because we humans are so biased toward visual and auditory signals, and don’t tend to sniff everything and lick random objects, we don’t realize how much the world around us is shot through with chemical warnings.

FEED THE LEAVES

In addition to preparing the soil, BIODYNAMICS wants gardeners to prepare the leaves of the growing plant to enhance their capacity to receive light.

Foliar feeding with liquid kelp (and a backpack sprayer) really works when a nitrogen boost is necessary.

READ THE SIGNS

BIODYNAMICS wants gardeners to heed “cosmic rhythms” in the timing of ground preparation, sowing, and harvesting. This is sometimes known as reading the portents but you don't have to be a wizard to do it.

Observe your garden’s environment every day.

A soil thermometer is an indispensable tool.

Information on seed packages (and in seed catalogs) can be very helpful:

 

RECOGNIZE YOURSELF AS PART OF THE GARDEN

BIODYNAMICS wants gardeners to recognize that vital food from a vital garden stimulates their own vitality, expressed in continued gardening. It’s a circle.

GROW WHAT GROWS

BIODYNAMICS wants you to “read the book of nature” when deciding what and where to plant in your particular garden. Study your elements: soil, light, and moisture. Rotate your crops and grow a variety of crops to confuse or distract insect pests.

Does this plant really belong in Iowa? (Consider the return on investment.)

Defeat your “elements” with raised beds and hoop houses.

Some good ideas for perennial plants that work in Iowa:

PROTECT WITHOUT COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Solar electric fences are a cost effective way to keep deer and rodents away from your crops.

Weeds can be tolerated if your crops are winning. Too much tilling to get rid of weeds brings weed seeds to the surface where they can germinate and it destroys the underground microbial networks vital to the health of the soil. Pulling weeds by hand is good exercise.

Supplemental watering is rarely necessary in a Biodynamic garden especially when mulch is used. Grass clippings are the best, provided you don't have a "chemical" lawn.

Shade cloth canopies can lower temperature; hoop houses can raise temperatures.

There are good , i.e. meat-eating, bugs - let them do their job. (Most chemical pesticides do not discriminate between good and bad bugs.) Plant (and enjoy) flowers that attract the good bugs.