Synergistic Gardening

What is Synergistic Gardening? A Guide

The History of Synergistic Gardening

Synergistic gardening is one of many different growing systems associated with organic gardening. The system was developed by Emilia Hazelip (Who amazingly was one of the Merry Pranksters that Tom Wolfe immortalized in his book!). However the real originator goes back even further than that: back to 1970’s Japan and the famous writer Masanobu Fukuoka and his book One-Straw Revolution which stressed the benefits of natural gardening (Something that is still known as the Fukuoka method).

The idea is that a garden is best left in as natural state as possible. While this means the usual organic practices such as not using chemicals are important, it also means saying no to manure and fertilizers! This is the first important principle: the garden does not need external inputs to grow.

Mulching

Because of this ‘natural as possible’ approach, mulching is used instead of other techniques. In synergistic gardening the mulch is made with organic materials such as:

  • grass. Usually these are  mixed with leaves to give the plants some aeration. Be careful not to use freshly cut grass as its decomposition may cause too much heating up of your delicate crops. Instead dried grass or slightly dried grass is better.
  • composts
  • leaves. Synergistic gardeners are recommended to avoid larger leaves as this can form a suffocating mat over the plants, however smaller leaves allowed to decay are great for synergistic gardens.
  • parts of plants (bark, wood chips). These are usually applied a couple of inches deep and allowed to decay naturally.
  • dried products (Hay and straw). Both are excellent. Most gardeners have started using salt hay which has a neutral pH, excellent water retention and has protection against weed seeds (Which can often grow in other hays).
  • animal hair (Wool is commonly used). This can be tough and expensive to get in large enough amounts to cover a big garden.
  • Peat moss/ Sphragnum moss. This is every gardeners secret weapon for growing acid-loving plants such as Camellia sinensis, however you will want to be careful if your plant does not survive well in acidic conditions (Ask your garden center).
  • In cooler areas, small rocks and gravel may be used to conserve heat

Once the plants have been planted then there is little that you need to do, so you can sit back and relax: there is no need for tilling, digging or transplanting under this model. Therefore it is best to give your plants as big a ‘head-start’ as possible. This means selecting plants that grow well with each other (Italian herb garden plants are a great example of this).

Otherwise you have little to do. Because synergistic gardening is mostly about creating a mini-ecosystem and letting it run its course you are not even encouraged to get rid of pests as long as their abundance is not too large. The only big problem remains with slugs and gardeners will unfortunately discover that synergistic gardens are beloved by them!

For the true organic grower a synergistic garden is as natural and organic as it gets. Therefore it is something to consider for gardening health benefits. If nothing else, it will give you a great feeling of getting back to nature that is an important part of the gardening experience.


Garden Health Benefits

Herb Garden and the Health Benefits Associated with It

The other day I was walking through a tiny herb garden out in the countryside and I smelt the fantastic smells of the plants. It gave me an awesome feeling of well-being almost like the troubles from my often stressful job had melted away. When I left I felt unusually peaceful and happy.

It turns out that I am not the only one. Herb gardens have long been known for their health benefits. English poets have been writing for centuries about the feelings of happiness they got from being in the English formal gardens. Japanese lore likewise required some sects of Zen monk to complete a garden as part of their enlightenment training and their achievement of oneness with nature.

We now know that just being in a herb garden has been linked with lowered stress, lower levels of perceived exhaustion and raised happiness. This offers proof that it has a lot of benefits, the question is why? It seems that people have a need to see natural things. A kind of aesthetic feeling rebels against too much concrete- which is unfortunately the reality that many of us face. A simple herb garden in the corner of a room has huge benefits on your feelings of happiness. This is one of the reasons that these wonderful plants have recently been growing in popularity especially growing herbs in pots.

Another is that even the smallest garden gives you a chance to use your mind. You may not think it, but even the smallest garden requires a lot of thought and knowledge. Every herb grower is like a gardener, scientist and artist, carefully combining aesthetic beauty with the optimum growth for culinary garden purposes. I even had to learn things about insects (A science known as entomology for those interested!).

The health benefits from moderate exercise have long been known too. Heart disease, proper functioning of the immune system and control of obesity are some of the many benefits. What many gardeners did not know is that herb gardening is also a form of exercise. In fact gardening in a large garden consumes as many calories as vigorous walking!

The other key thing is that eating healthy, fresh herbs is part of a healthy natural diet. The key word here is ‘natural’ as it is easy to end up introducing too much processed, artificial food into our own (And our kid’s) diet. Just the simple act of adding fresh herbs to the food we eat gives you the numerous benefits of eating healthy, alive food that is rich in minerals.

The garden health benefits are numerous. Therefore it is something worth considering if you ever get frustrated with a lack of progress or a particularly weak harvest. In fact the main benefit may not have been the destination, but rather the journey. The best part is that gardens can give you many different kinds of health benefits all of which add up to a significant improvement in the quality of our lives.