By: Becky Elder
Soil serves all life; sustains all life. Yours and mine. Soil is the base of the entire planet’s population, not just people population. Soil is sacred to many indigenous people, to some gardeners and to permaculturists.
Every plant plays a part in the grand scheme of nature. The leaves of plants feed back into the soil. They fall to the ground, becoming crisp and fragile. Under winter snows and spring rains, those leaves begin to breakdown, soften and become food for microorganisms and fungus. Worms tear pieces off and retreat into their tunneled homes. Other biota, slugs, snails and beetles, come to dine, all the while entertaining the unseen micro-biota, busy on the microscopic scale. Making soil.
All these chewing and rasping mouths deliver food to the body, which then must eliminate unused portions. Call it what you will, manure is soil food. A primary function of soil is providing a home for decomposers, who keep the planet clean by consuming waste products, whether plants or animals. Making soil.
Worms are superb soil builders. It’s their job. Mulching calls in the worms to balance air, minerals and water. When faced with depleted soil, introduce organic material: rotted leaves, compost or aged manure. Mulch deeply and let the soil begin to regain health. Health, to soil, would be a legion of biota, the littler lives that live, breathe and eat soil. A spoonful of healthy soil can harbor six billion soil organisms. Through composting and mulching soil, the worm population takes over the task of building soil.
Forest gardens are mulched, heavily, with sheet mulch. Mulches help control weeds and smother pests, like apple’s coddling moth. Dense plantings of onions, chives, comfrey, clovers, yarrow or legumes serve as living mulch and do well with fruit trees. Plants that are perennial or self-sowing annuals are encouraged. They can serve up their crops for as long as the gardener is there to harvest and sow seed.
My forest gardens provide for me and also for my animals. My rabbits cycle the sun’s energy from the leaves of plants back into the soil. So-called “weeds” are bunny salad. The rabbits provide organic, non-burning fertilizer for the plants. This is a cycle that can continue forever… plants to bunnies to soil to plants to bunnies…
Once established, a forest garden manages itself almost completely. Protected by shade and wind buffering, a forest garden needs less water and less attention than standard vegetable gardens, traditional flower gardens or bluegrass lawns.
Ponds add a critical water element to a forest garden, which, especially at ground level, needs it. In dry Colorado, installing bog gardens, waterways, ponds, or even multiple birdbaths will bring balance into the system. Permaculture design could direct runaway water to a pond; planting bulrushes, cattails or watercress will filter and clean the water. Design could direct excess water into rain gardens where plants receive more water than the rest of the garden. Water systems weave another stabilizing strand into the garden web. Plunk in fish, frogs or crayfish and weave yet another strand.
Working with nature allows the gardener to relax and witness life in action. “The best work is done in the hammock.” is a common saying in permaculture circles, and it means that allowing time to simply observe the land and listen to subtler voices will inspire the best designs. Observe and replicate natural patterns. Touch the soil. The world is a pattern of events nested within each other. Taking time to “let the land speak for itself” will open up visions that will work and offer returns far beyond the standards of mainstream landscapes.