Even worse is the chemicals coming through in the horse manure and the roof tiles. This is primarily because of the use of hybrid seeds and the growing of relatively few crops. I chronicled the garden conversion on a fledging blog. Agricultural systems that are bio-intensive are those that maximize yield while also increasing biodiversity and keeping soil fertility in check. It may be the dominant method right now but there are likely as many reasons to skip it as there are to embrace it. I save seed and use no purchased sprays -even organic ones. Instead of single rows, I have planted 1-foot wide rows (like a single 1-square row in the SQ method), but this has caused a weeding problem in the large scale. Therefore, this may require double digging, where you will loosen the soil in your beds up to 24 inches. Its simply a question of your preferences, your resources and your climate. It Saves the Limited Remaining Amounts of Seeds, How Do I Get To Choose What To Plant In My Garrison Garden Wow, How Do I Wire Transfer Money To Gemini Exchange. The rains last year killed all cucumbers. See below. I dont know if I should be honored or horrified. Additionally, bio intensive gardening often uses organic methods to avoid the use of harmful chemicals. Biointensive Balcony Gardening - How To Grow Biointensive Gardens On Balconies, What Is Dryland Farming - Dry Farming Crops And Information, What Are Hobby Farms - Hobby Farm Vs. Business Farm, Beatrix Potter: Mycologist, Illustrator, And Author, Learn About Wild Peony Varieties Native To California, Information On Dutchmans Pipe Pruning And When To Prune Dutchmans Pipe Vine, Learn More About Balcony Vegetable Gardening, Home & Garden Marketplace: Advertiser Info. Those of us who love gardens, flowers and gardening should find my blog flourishing. While I have learned much, I have also learned that the rainwater [23k gal. Also I can wrap uv treated plastic around them in the winter and keep on gardening. I use grow boxes,which I like very much,sense 83 yr. old bones dont bend well. Not saying that there is never going to be a bit of moisture needed but even people who live in arid regions or regions going through a drought have to use very little supplemental watering. I like to be as independant of the need to buy things as possible. Bio-Intensive Garden Planning. The spacing was very tight, as recommended in Mel Bartholomews book, so the roots ran out of moisture rapidly. Row cropping would limit me to one growing cycle. Chemical fertilisers will accelerate mineralisation of the organic matter. BioinTENSIVEs compost and calorie crops produce 70% of the dry biomass that feeds the soil in addition to providing 60% of the calories needed to feed the farmer. Reminds me of a story. Youtube: Gabe Brown building health soil The beds retain their water for much longer and to that end, our three year old little peach tree (that was thoroughly chipped) produced an amazing harvest of succulent peaches last year (check it out: https://youtu.be/F-9nugrUKOw) and I only watered it twice during the entire and incredibly hot growing season! Farmlands are becoming less productive and is making the number of farmers decrease globally. Biointensive agriculture is an avenue of avoiding this inevitable fate and will equip the modern-day farmer with all the tools that can help save the soil, resources and our own lives. Taste some night shade Good luck everyone. No soaker hoses required! Im a newbie so I hope this works. The soils nutrients will be more concentrated, allowing for greater crop yields. Your IP: Stretch garden hoses to mark out the area where you wish to plant the corn, such as a 5-by-5 Some of the crops mentioned above are rich in calories and while they provide the soil with long term fertility, they also feed. Companion planting is a technique that involves planting different types of plants next to each other. Forests are destroyed to create large open fields, and this could lead to soil erosion. Check out these two video sources to learn best how to do this No till, No water, No Fertilizer method of gardening. A couple of years ago I grew a good-sized plot of corn that was watered by rainfall. Its a problem all over. It maximizes the amounts you will produce and will help you in getting the most out of the smallest space. http://www.WellFedNeighbor.com/Josephs Page, I enjoyed reading this perspective. Our water table is high; therefore, raised beds save the day. Wonder how many organic gardens have same wind drift happen not even being seen ? Able to feed and sustain large human populations. Mulching is a necessity, but the soil still dries out VERY quickly anyway. Conventional farming heavily relies on petroleum and natural gas, resources that are running out. 2 generations just blindly doing something the way their ancestor had for no good reason. Therefore, this means the world population has to use the little available land to produce more, leading to bio-intensive farming. The meaning of this, therefore, is that if you fail to implement the system, there is the risk of seriously destroying the soil and its fertility, and even jeopardizing the entire concept of biointensive farming. Today Im going to take a look at the pros and cons of intensive gardening. Watered it twice all season! Many small-scale farmers choose to go bio-intensive due to the following reasons: Lower Investment. Importance and Benefits of Biointensive Farming 1. My parents and in laws love raised bed bins since it requires less bending over and is easier to control the variables. Biointensive gardens are classified into two types. Unlike a single row garden that takes up lots of space, you can plant vegetables tightly in a little square foot garden bed or a horse trough converted into a raised bed. Do cover crops as much as possible. There may be as little as 40 years of farmable soil remaining all over the world. I do a little gardening in the clay but rely on my 16 inch raised beds. We have this idea that raised beds are pretty much the only way to garden at this point. cap.off of metal roofs]] needs to be filtered; that the alfalfa my 35yr.old horse is eating is loaded with herbicides and his manure will kill my plants; that the concrete roofing tiles that form my raised beds are saturated with flyash and will soon start glowing. Pesticides, in addition to being important for pest and disease control, must be used properly. Benefits of biointensive gardening b. With maybe 10 inches of rain a year watering is a necessity. If you plan ahead of time and use appropriate materials, you can increase your yields with minimal effort. Ben there; done that. In other words, the whole system honors the web of life in the garden and uses all the principles to increase the yields, at the same time sustaining the soil. With a well-planned intensive garden, you can maximize your yields with minimum materials. I keep rain barrels so it would be easier for me to water in case there is a water shortage. Another advantage is that large productivity of food is possible with less amount of land. I cant see being dependant on bringing in mulch or wood chips -I am a fan of cover crops . This is in line with how Mel Bartholomew describes his method. When everyone is doing something, it might be a good time to ask why? Intensive gardening has its appeal but isnt a perfect method. The goal of biointensive gardening is to incorporate all natural gardening in the farm, therefore, not using anything modified. This method does not necessitate companion planting, crop rotation, or, perhaps most importantly, the preparation of soil. There are also some disadvantages, such as limited use of land, lowered income, bigger consumption of time and effort, and shorter shelf life of products. I am using some of the square foot method ideas, but Im not sure yet how well they will work. Another benefit of intensive gardening is that its usually based on permanent beds you can protect from compaction easier than you can a big row garden which requires walking between the rows in order to weed, maintain and harvest. Biointensive sustainable garden plants include any plants you can plant in your garden. The best wood chips are ramial the less than 3 diameter branches. See that sandy soil? The key to biointensive gardening is to achieve a high level of productivity while using a small amount of land. What are the dangers of soil contamination from Rotting cardboard ? Adding compost to the beds helps in adding nutrients and organic matter, which is crucial to the crops and the microbes in the soil. We do the best that we can. The most efficient type of farming with regard to production. I have to disagree with the con that intensive gardening requires more water. Water! The only sunny spot for a garden is on a slope. There was a test done on 5 farms in USA 500 miles apart for 3 years. This year, a few weeks ago, it rained almost nonstop hard for 5 or 6 days. Over time, the farmer will end up with crops that have adjusted to the local environment. Bio intensive gardening is a type of gardening that uses organic materials and focuses on creating a sustainable environment. All Right Reserved. Water! no soil tillage) keep coming up as possible solutions worthy of trying. My rows have been drying out quickly so have also just put straw on them as well. To establish arbuscular mycorrhizae the soil should be almost undisturbed putin plants, if you till do so lightly and not deeply, Thank you for the article and the warning about the current raised beds trend! Because of how this form of farming requires less land to produce the same yield of crops as conventional farming, more land could be saved for other uses. Learn how your comment data is processed. Retrieved from https://www.gardencityharvest.org/the-real-dirt-garden-city-harvest-blog/2019/6/4/bio-intensive-garden-planning, Source: https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/biointensive-farming-importance-examples-principles.php, Advantages And Disadvantages Of Bio Intensive Gardening, Importance and Benefits of Biointensive Farming, 2. The compost might take longer to cure, but will become more diverse and produce more compost. Advertisement Depends on how raise beds are defined. It is worthwhile to avoid intensive gardening for larger rows and non-raised plots because they provide significant benefits. The key to successful biointensive gardening is the health of the soil. Rather than bringing in outside manures, biointensive farmers grow their compost and use about 60% of their growing area for dual-purpose crops, which grow both food and compost.