That was a suggestion rom the book, which states many ways to create an ecological garden. Its 220 pages, and is very indepth, i cant do the book justice in a few paragraphs.....
The best way that ive seen, is a bit of all of the suggestions, planting groundcover, letting some native species thrive, to attact wildlife, and as well, lending a hand to nature, by pulling a few weeds here and there. By adding plants that help eachother ( guilds and or nurseplants), and adding the 3 or 4 dimentions to a garden (soil life, ground cover, herb/shrub layer, and large trees, and of course time), you can get a jump start. Like you say, it would take 5 - 10 years to let nature do its thing. but what the book is talking about, is helping nature out, not forcing it to do what we want ( which is impossible), nature will always do what its meant to do. If your area is generaly forested, it is working every second and every year to attain that forest, while us as gardeners are fighting viciously to stop this from happening.
So why not get a jump start? Plant lots of ground cover ( clover, low flowering plants, herbs, hell even sone radish ( ammends the soil), lettuce, beans, pea, any number of veggies on the bright edges of the garden beds, while the back is say, lrge shade trees ( hopefuly that provides, nuts, and shelter for birds), and some fruit trees, while sime berry shrubs, mixed in with some flowering shurbs to attract animals, also some nitrogen fixing shrubs to enhance soil. You get a jump start on what nature is trying to do, so instead you working against her, your working with nature.
That is what the book is about, not fighting with the weeds, and bugs, which are ALL beneficial ( insects attract preditor insects and animals......which inturn get rid of the bug problem as the yard achieves a type of equilibrium), but working literaly side by side with what nature is trying to do, so thers less work on you.
An example would be the permiculture institute in New Mexico. The lady bought the property in the desert, and no matter what she planted, they would die. There were no micoclimates, or water holding areas, and of course, sandy crappy soil. So she trucked in manure to ammend the soil a bit, build some rock walls, and used logs to shade the seedlings. She dug swales, and subtle dips int he ground to collect water. She started with super drought hardy trees and shrubs, as well as nitrogen fixing plants, and nurse plants. With the inclcusion of the rock walls, to create shade, the trees thrived, and in 5 or 10 years, the place was looking like a jungle. The soil was at least a foot thick with humus, and she had a problem with too much water, instead of not enough... in the middle of new mexico. She did this with NO irrigation ( sprinklers hoses etc), no supplimentary fertilizers and or pesticides. All she did was use nature to her advantage.
I am by no means doing this book justice..... it was in my case a very eye opening book. Permaculture is a very new type of gardening, in which everyperson who tried even one element of it, are pioneers ( it was used in tropical countries, but is new in temperate, or continental climates).
Im my experience, in just a few weeks....... I havnt pulled a weed in 2 weeks... and the beds are looking "wild", but.... this year ( the first year trying this), its the best its ever looked, even with the "weeds". Sure i have to pull some grass thats getting to "adventureous", or plant a few seeds here and there, but everything is doing well. the tomatoes are shading the bamboo bed, which in turn keeps down weeds, keeps the soil most and cool, which in turn invites roe and more soil life. The small weeds, are covering the bed ( pioneer plants), and making sure the top soil doesnt run off. Underneeth the tomatoes, all the weeds that were there, are wilted, or dead, or already decomposed, and in turn are creating rich, humus for my plants to thrive in.
The bed that had the most exposed soil needs the most watering, even though its in the cooler spot. But since ive let some things grow, there are more insects there then ever before, and in turn more birds, to fertilize the soil. Sure, the "pests" eat plants. Plant more of them so they wont all get eaten, or simply find the "pests" favorite food source, plant it, and they will leave most other plants alone. Think of roses. In the authurs, and other people data, roses planted en masse, will attract a high ammount of aphids, or disease, due to the high concentration of foor source. So if you planted the roses say, 8 feet away from eachother, the aphids didnt grow to such shocking numbers.
Canna diesease is a good example. Canna farms, have say an acre of canna, only canna. Perfect situatiuon for disease to occur. Or a congragation of "pests".
In this situation, something else could occur. Say in that same rose garden, wher ethey are planed en masse, an aphid problem could, and more then likley would occur. Of course this could damage the roses. But this could also casue lady bugs from all around the neighborhood to go to the roses, and eat like kings........ another point of the book, is that what ever we need to do in the garden.... nature ALWAYS has a way to do the same thing......
Im sorry for rambling...... Like i said the book is very indepth. Ive read a few more things online about it. I havnt been able to put much of it into practice ATM, as somethings can take years to impliment, but so far it hasnt let me down at all.
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