Almost all of the PROs are contingent on No. Another con of intensive gardening is the methods use of permanent beds. If your intention is to grow large amounts for preservation, the square foot method in raised beds is not so good. I was proud of my raised bed set-up until the first rain. Topsoil is the bare minimum amount of material on which crop growth can be sustained. Its simply a question of your preferences, your resources and your climate. Another year, when I went down to chicken coop, I seen red birds flying over my Peaches and Cream sweet corn, so went to look. The difference is how they are grown. That said, I also worked a field without any way to hold water on site and there I used wide spacing and grew during the wetter season. Biointensive gardening focuses a lot on the quality of the soil. You can also subscribe without commenting. The goal is to create as much biodiversity as possible, at the same time leveraging the unique characteristics of each crop to a farmer's advantage. I made a stab at applying some of the square-foot concepts to a row garden this last spring, but I had lots of stuff going on, and was unable to properly prep much of an area. Agricultural systems that are bio-intensive are those that maximize yield while also increasing biodiversity and keeping soil fertility in check. Production has been much better than in the plot that was previously there. The rows have helped tremendously and the stems are very thick and strong. Many people want to farm but are facing several challenges like the affordability of land and equipment necessary for the modern farmer. The biointensive soil building belief is that machinery uses too much energy and leaves soil too susceptible to erosion. See that sandy soil? I hate to think what it is doing to your poor horse! A biointensive farm works to reduce resource use while also ensuring the health and efficiency of the environment. I have 5 rain barrels, and a river at the end of the block. Almost every year, I place kitchen slops & a bit of chicken manure & whatnot in the beds and this breaks down to form organic matter in the somewhat sandy soil, as well as adding some nutrients. Planting tightly while still allowing plants the room to mature, leaves less room for weeds while increasing the diversity of the garden. I like my raised beds. Whether raised beds or field rows are better depends on climate, rainfall, ground composition and amount labor you are able to put into it. Biointensive farming uses 50 to 75% less land and 50 to 100% less fertilizer to produce enough food. Whats the first thing most new gardeners do when they decide to create their very first plot of veggies in the back 40? Balcony Gardening Big Food Production in Small Spaces, Grow or Die: The Good Guide to Survival Gardening, Compost Everything: The Good Guide to Extreme Composting, Push the Zone: The Good Guide to Growing Tropical Plants Beyond the Tropics. It really is fun to try both methods in the same year as Ive done. When they were at his mother-in-laws next time he asked her why she used 2 roasting pans to cook the ham. Using this method, we can achieve the best yields while utilizing the basic elements that life requires soil, water, air, and sun. The advantages of this type of gardening include the fact that it is good for the environment, it is low maintenance, and it can save you money. Thats awful I feel for you. Importance and Benefits of Biointensive Farming 1. While I have learned much, I have also learned that the rainwater [23k gal. I like the name. This will not interfere with the lettuce growth and the lettuce wont interfere with the pepper growth because the peppers actually grow above the lettuce. 2. Read more articles about Organic Gardens. He asked her why she used 2 pans and she said because thats the way my mom did it. Its good to learn from our ancestors. Biointensive gardening is a type of gardening that focuses on maximizing the amount of food that can be produced in a given space. Any method of water harvesting is a must , regardless of gardening method, for most people and arguably all if looking at the bigger picture. When crops are grown hexagonally, they create a shade that allows for more water to be held by the soil, which is very crucial when there is little to no water. Definitely go for what works on your land. Compost also unlocks nutrients previously unavailable through its hummic acids, making the soil even more fertile. Intensive gardening lets you grow a lot of food in a perfect small space whats not to love? The yields on the space were great, though, so I cant complain too much. This, therefore, means the conventional way of farming will become more expensive and food prices will go up. The introduction of intensive farming allows the space, equipment, and other requirements for farming to be less and more economical. For a 5 wide bed, Ill have six rows. What are the advantages and disadvantages of intensive farming? This is because vegetables are typically high-yielding crops that do not require a lot of space. If a small intensive garden is supplemented with rainwater harvested off the roof and and stored for use in a smart designed wicking bed style container system, the con of needing more water is moot. Theres a reason the pioneers didnt use tight little raised beds for their crops! CON: Raised beds provide well-drained soil. Its just this: if there was ever a sustained period where the city water shut off or your well quit working, youd lose all your harvest for that year. Greening the desert does NOT apply here! Intensive gardening coupled with drip irrigation and shade cloth gives me far better utilization of my land. For instance, try growing cabbages and lettuce. While I get out a spade Clay might make your soil compact (I live in a HIGH CLAY area), but a bit in the mix sure helps hold onto some water. Wonder how many organic gardens have same wind drift happen not even being seen ? Raise all my Better Boys, Early Girls and Rutgers tomatoes from seed in my 4 ft x 8 ft seed bed, seed put in 15 Feb each year. Yup! BIO-INTENSIVE GARDENING IN THE PHILIPPINES Sure, you may still see the occasional backyard single row garden but theyre nowhere near as ubiquitous as they used to be. Biofuels have emerged as an alternative to fossil fuels in recent years due to their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote the use of renewable energy. Companion planting also shades the soil, aids in pest control, provide a habitat for beneficial insects, increase crop productivity, and assists in pollination as well as maximizing the use of space. My back never felt as good as in those years and harvest was so easy. We should always be learning and looking for the best solutions to our challenges in life. Reading the article and then reading all the comments, pros and cons, it comes down to what suits YOU in YOUR situation. That the wise latrina got a free ride to Princeton while not even being in the top 20% of her high school class is the best explanation of affirmative action out there. This is accomplished by using techniques such as companion planting, intercropping, and composting. Most home gardening is now intensive gardening, whether the gardener knows it or not. Square foot gardening, container gardening, biointensive gardening all are methods of packing as much production into as small a space as possible. @2017 - PenciDesign. That Back To Eden Place is not what it may seem to the untrained eyes. This leads to economies of scale and directly contributes towards meeting the ever-growing demand for food supplies. It, therefore, saves on the amounts of open-pollinated seeds that are currently available and ensures their continued existence for a long period to come. Biointensive gardening is based on soil fertility, crop rotation, composting, proper use of manure and legumes, and the proper application of pesticides. WITH nature as opposed to creating more work and problems by working against natures flow. A square foot garden can be done by almost anyone, and it is a simple, reliable system. As a result, it is cost-effective to run because it uses less land and resources. You cant just use a cultivator between rows (individual plants) because there isnt room, and you will dig up the plants. For vegetable growing, a small square foot garden bed or a horse trough converted into a raised bed are ideal. Find fresh gardening inspiration at his website TheSurvivalGardener.com and be sure to follow his popular YouTube channel. When you have a small backyard, why would you bother with a great big row garden when you can grow your peppers, sweet corn and bush beans in a lot less space? and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Intensive gardening in some spaces, row gardens in others, tight plots and spacious expanses of field crops all have their place. Maybe next year she should try putting down straw on her tomatos as I did. Yes, I have to mulch. Another benefit of intensive gardening is that it's 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. 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. They were farmers not gardeners. http://www.steps2permaculture.com. No raised beds for me. I had access to a large amount of old cow manure from a covered barn. Now intensive gardening is under question. Advantages of Intensive Farming 1. A couple of years ago I grew a good-sized plot of corn that was watered by rainfall. With the heavy clay I can barely grow grass but weeds love it. widely spaced rows. Permanent beds are commonly used in intensive gardens. On all my plants I use 5 10 15 fertilizer, just like my gradpa told me to do, he fed 680+ cows from his crops every winter for almost 50 years. Can Help Combat the Dwindling Crop Production Due to Global Warming and Climate Change 3. We drink our rain water unfiltered, grow enough oaten hay to feed our own cows which in turn fertilise my garden, and grow enough wheat straw to mulch it to retain moisture. Open pollinated seeds are a viable option for farmers who want to grow their own seeds. In my backyard garden I grew 3 types of potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli, beans (3 kinds), salad greens (3 kinds of lettuce, spinach), green onion, and a few other things I cannot recall. Raised beds worked well in my wetter climate, intensive planting (shade the ground) in shallow ponds that I could flood once a day worked well in the desert, straw bales, no-dig, square foot, Ive tried most of them and they all can have a place in anyones garden. Mulching is a technique that involves covering the ground with a layer of organic material. More. Over the years we have had our produce tested for residues since we do farm conventionally and they have all come back clear. The wood in the bottom acts like a sponge and soaks up the rain. By double planting the soil, digging deep and adding compost back when your crops are done growing, youre improving the soil for each new crop. All rows have 2 Blue Strip Drip water hoses in place after plants are up. Intensive gardening lets you grow a lot of food in a perfect small space what's not to love? In the United States, it takes approximately 3000 years to make just 15 cm of topsoil. Biointensive agriculture is an organic agricultural system that focuses on achieving maximum yields from a minimum area of land, while simultaneously increasing biodiversity and sustaining the fertility of the soil. An intensive garden requires detailed planning, but the time saved in working the garden and the . ALWAYS keep the soil covered. The majority of the processes are carried out on a computer rather than on farm machinery. The goal of biointensive gardening is to incorporate all natural gardening in the farm, therefore, not using anything modified. Use of chemical fertilizers contaminates soil and water bodies, such as lakes and rivers. Yet there are notable benefits to ditching intensive gardening for wider rows and in-ground non-raised plots. That is of course after a year or two of getting the beds established. If you build perfect little beds and fill them with perfect soil, youve made a commitment. About 4 years ago, on warm day I had glass up with no screens on, plants were doing great about 2 inch high. The important thing is that we all try growing something. When you have a small backyard, why would you bother with a great big row garden when you can grow your peppers, sweet corn and bush beans in a lot less space? The advantages of this type of gardening include the fact that it is good for the environment, it is low maintenance, and it can save you money. The spacing was very tight, as recommended in Mel Bartholomews book, so the roots ran out of moisture rapidly. happiness@thegrownetwork.com I am saddened to hear that you have to filter the rain water just to use on the garden. The process of producing food involves harvesting the largest number of crops with the least amount of resources available. Been gardening with dense plantings in wide rows over 40 years, in nutrient-dense, water-conserving soil I produce. My cucs and beans look 10 times better than last year. It also holds water and less is lost to evaporation. This helps to suppress weeds, retain moisture, and protect the soil from erosion. This process creates an even more dynamic, thriving and well-balanced gardens, allowing farmers to maximize the relationship between plants, people and insects. Ive used varying combinations of Mel Bartholomews Square Foot Gardening and John Jeavons methods from Grow More Vegetables in my intensive beds and have had quite good success. The optimum balance of carbon crops and special root crops produce a nutritionally balanced diet in minimal space. Can not prove the spraying done it but has never happened before. To combat this, build an above-ground highway to make it easier for them to grow effectively. That changed my mind on row gardening. (n.d.). There are spaces for intensive gardening in some areas, row gardens in others, tight plots with wide open fields, and so on. Rob, if it works for you dont change it. Farmers are using the land more efficiently and are able to plant more in the space they have. Row cropping would limit me to one growing cycle. Square foot gardening, container gardening, biointensive gardening all are methods of packing as much production into as small a space as possible. You where not in the top 20% of your high school class The idea centers around nutrient-rich soil that can support growing crops closer together, reducing the amount of resources and hands-on labor required. The pros are much higher than cons. You dont just garden; you garden a specific piece of land. Youtube: Gabe Brown building health soil Another benefit of intensive gardening is that it's 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. Pairing slow-growing large crops with fast-growing small crops is the best way to interplant. Jeavons folks have shown that over and over. When everyone is doing something, it might be a good time to ask why? Intensive gardening has its appeal but isnt a perfect method. Instead of planting in rows, biointensive farmers grow plants in hexagonal shapes, as it is the most efficient form of packing thins in, in nature. The only sunny spot for a garden is on a slope. These gardens do not use as much land, water, fertilizer, or human effort as other types of garden. I would appreciate a reply). Biointensive farming maintains soil fertility by allotting about 60% of what is grown to compost crops. If I knew from one year to the next how much rain wed be getting, then in a really dry year, Id go for trad. Water! Our first square foot garden beds five years ago needed a lot of water compared to my corn. There was a test done on 5 farms in USA 500 miles apart for 3 years. Chemical fertilisers will accelerate mineralisation of the organic matter. Last year I did 2 more Huglekultur beds. If you plan ahead of time and use appropriate materials, you can increase your yields with minimal effort. Designed and Developed by PenciDesign, @The Prepper Project: The Pros and Cons of Square Foot Gardening, The Great South Florida Food Forest Project, an excellent article from Mother Earth News, Grow or Die: The Good Guide to Survival Gardening, Adding Minerals to a (Mostly) No-Till System. Try cooking oil, its not toxic. We're on a mission to support everyone in healing themselves, and our Earth, by growing their own food and medicines. Herbs are super foods that can sustain us well. Failures needed more attention to my natural environment and what I was proposing to do. Therefore, this means that manipulating the system will deconstruct it into parts, making things problematic. Made it 2 concrete blocks high. Can Help Combat the Dwindling Crop Production Due to Global Warming and Climate Change, 5. I say almost just in case. Today Im going to take a look at the pros and cons of intensive gardening. Im a newbie so I hope this works. Check out these two video sources to learn best how to do this No till, No water, No Fertilizer method of gardening. I chronicled the garden conversion on a fledging blog. I use t-tape drip irrigation tubing for all my planting. When a whole functioning system or entity is manipulated, its impacts are on the nations' or so many people's food security. A mans wife was cooking a ham at Easter in two roasting pans. In Winter the cardboard disintegrated and was part of the soil the next Summer. And the appropriate part of that is the deep mulch on top. Saved lots of our well water and made for weed-free gardening. I do a little gardening in the clay but rely on my 16 inch raised beds. The process increases biodiversity, and soil quality while at the same time inviting beneficial microorganisms to thrive and take control over the soil, creating a dynamic harmony with the plants. 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. 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. If you plant each seed, you will only allow the adult plant to touch the surface of its neighbors. Vermiculite is costly, and the soil mix still dries out easily, necessitating abundant watering. I am also trying to learn and enjoy wild herbs grown locally also. Raised beds are good for small scale gardening. There are no right or wrong ways to garden. Since it is heavy, it also compacts the soil, which means all the double-digging that was done to prepare the soil was for naught. As the human population . The reason our ancestors did wide row gardening/cropping was because they needed room to get a horse through and later to get a tractor through. This allows us to produce a diet for a year that is both feasible and sustainable in the smallest amount of land possible. Water! Saying there is a reason why our ancestors grew in wide rows is true. For each pound eaten by humans, between 6 and 24 pounds of soil are lost to agricultural practices like wind and water erosion. I have never heard of it called intensive garden before, but I agree. The process helps deter tomato pests, and other herbs like tarragon could also deter pests. Lots of mulch. Everything from square foot gardening to growing without irrigation is in there, so if youre trying to pick a gardening method for spring, I highly recommend you pick up a copy and get reading. If youve got a wide open patch of lawn, why not put in some widely spaced rows of beans or corn and care for the plot with a wheel hoe? >>if there was ever a sustained period where the city water shut off or your well quit working, youd lose all your harvest for that year<< Not necessarily. If theres a breakdown in our complex world, wide, single-row gardening is likely to come back with a vengeance as we turn to the heavens for our rainfall, rather than a faucet. I would really like to grow with rainfall here in Sacramento county Ca but we dont get any rain in the summer. Seed bed has screen, glass of house windows covering both sides with water misters on whole bed. Warm Regards from Willowdales Backyard Mini-Farm Ontario, Tod Dorozio. We cut our grass anyway, so there is free mulch. The wind drift averaged 15 miles down wind on each farm and RoundUp Ready weeds were found in each of those 15 miles drifts. 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. Biointensive farming will make the best of the little soil we have and will prolong this period. I have to disagree with the con that intensive gardening requires more water. That garden is watered by slow run-off water that seeps down from above properties on a barrier of hardpan. If you are interested in growing your own food, then biointensive gardening is a great option. You can concentrate on where you plant your plants if you have a permanent bed. We have this idea that raised beds are pretty much the only way to garden at this point. I havent even been able to plant the rest of my tomato plants yet. I got a nice harvest of grain corn from that widely spaced row garden because of how much room the corn roots had to search out water, even in sand. This makes biointensive farming the perfect mode of farming, especially if there is limited space for farming. My experience with raised beds has developed the following opinions: 1. Living in the valley of one of the richest areas of farm lands, I can guarantee you that every traditional row farmer is watering on a very regular basis. It helps the farmer to easily supervise and monitor the land and protect his livestock from being hurt or hounded by dangerous wild animals. Herbs also liked this, as well as asparagus and strawberries. The publisher is shooting to have it done by early March. It is an extension of growing compost. We Only Have a Little Time 2. For example, when I was a teenager I used to have a crush on this really cute redhead, and then later, Lets just say I ended up with a better option. Furthermore, bio-intensive farming techniques are more effective than conventional methods of agriculture. Water! And we transporting it to countries and people over the earth. Scalia found dead It helps shade the soil, blocks weeds, and they are, therefore, easy to grow. In places where we get rain from maybe late November until February youve just spent gads of money on a item that takes up gardening space that will only benefit you for a weeks time after a rain, so in November to February. 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. You can also pack high fertility into a small space by stacking up lots of nutrition rather than trying to spread compost over a large area like you would with a traditional garden. This is primarily because of the use of hybrid seeds and the growing of relatively few crops. I put aside about 1200 gallons on my old homestead via old hot tubs and rain barrels. Using a variety of crop species rather than cultivating a single crop improves biodiversity and agricultural productivity. At the start I mulched, until I noticed the slugs and the summers in Edmonton, Alberta becoming more humid. There may be as little as 40 years of farmable soil remaining all over the world. Three years ago year I built a raised Huglkultur bed. Forests are destroyed to create large open fields, and this could lead to soil erosion. I like whatever grows like crazy and I have had success and failures with both methods. It affects the natural habitat of wild animals. Over time, the farmer will end up with crops that have adjusted to the local environment. @The Prepper Project: The Pros and Cons of Book Review Saturday: 12 titles, with one-liners. Reports and studies reveal that intensive farming affects and alters the environment in multiple ways. I made up a great soil mix with it and filled up my beds. 4. Bio intensive gardening is a type of gardening that is done with the intention of maximizing the amount of food that can be produced in a small area. Seems to be working wonderfully. Made cart wide paths that act like a swale to catch and soak the rain water into the beds. PRO: Raised beds provide well-drained soil. Have been sitting here on the southwest edge of the Gila in New Mexico for the last sixteen years, minding my own business. And yes, the paperback version is on its way. With biointensive gardening, you would go ahead and plant your rows of lettuce. This way, their plants' roots can penetrate through the soil deeper and get more nutrients and water from deep underground. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. "Crop production and natural resource use". Able to feed and sustain large human populations. It should be outlawed. Its like going back in time and the yields may surprise you. I have been doing this for over 5 years and my food has never tasted better. The best wood chips are ramial the less than 3 diameter branches. The farming method's objective is sustainability on a closed system basis. Well see how it works. Good luck everyone. Think energy input and toxicity. 2. Eco Farming Daily. http://www.BackToEdenFilm.com As plants grow, they harvest carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as well as through photosynthesis.