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No-dig Gardening
No-dig gardening is a non-cultivation method used by some organic gardeners. The origins of no-dig gardening are unclear, and may be based on pre-industrial or nineteenth-century farming techniques. Masanobu Fukuoka started his pioneering research work in this domain in 1938, and began publishing in the 1970s his Fukuokan philosophy of " do-nothing farming" or natural farming, which is now acknowledged by some as the tap root of the permaculture movement. Two pioneers of the method in the twentieth century included F. C. King, Head Gardener at Levens Hall, South Westmorland, in the Lake District of England, who wrote the book "Is Digging Necessary?" in 1946 and a gardener from Middlecliffe in the UK, A. Guest, who in 1948 published the book "Gardening Without Digging". The work of these gardeners was supported by the Good Gardeners Association in the UK. No-dig gardening was also promoted by Australian Esther Deans in the 1970s, and American gardener Ruth Stout advocated a "permane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organic Gardener
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to organic gardening and farming: Organic farming – alternative agricultural system that relies on fertilizers of organic origin such as compost, manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. Biological pest control, mixed cropping and the fostering of insect predators are encouraged. In general, organic standards are designed to allow the use of naturally occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances. Organic farming and gardening systems and approaches * Biodynamic farming * Biodynamic gardening * Climate-friendly gardening * Forest gardening * History of organic farming * Organic farming * Organic gardening (Organic horticulture) *Organic lawn management * Permaculture * Square foot gardening * Synergistic gardening * System of Rice Intensification * Vegan organic gardening * Wildli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crop Rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. It reduces reliance on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, and the probability of developing resistant pests and weeds. Growing the same crop in the same place for many years in a row, known as monocropping, gradually depletes the soil of certain nutrients and selects for a highly competitive pest and weed community. Without balancing nutrient use and diversifying pest and weed communities, the productivity of monocultures is highly dependent on external inputs. Conversely, a well-designed crop rotation can reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers and herbicides by better using ecosystem services from a diverse set of crops. Additionally, crop rotations can improve soil structure and organic matter, which reduces erosion and increases farm system resilience. History Agriculturalists have long recognized that suitable rotations — ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
No-till Farming
No-till farming (also known as zero tillage or direct drilling) is an agricultural technique for growing crops or pasture without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till farming decreases the amount of soil erosion tillage causes in certain soils, especially in sandy and dry soils on sloping terrain. Other possible benefits include an increase in the amount of water that infiltrates into the soil, soil retention of organic matter, and nutrient cycling. These methods may increase the amount and variety of life in and on the soil. While conventional no-tillage systems use herbicides to control weeds, organic systems use a combination of strategies, such as planting cover crops as mulch to suppress weeds. There are three basic methods of no-till farming. "Sod seeding" is when crops are sown with seeding machinery into a sod produced by applying herbicides on a cover crop (killing that vegetation). "Direct seeding" is when crops are sown through the residue of previous crop. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadfork
The broadfork, also called a U-fork or grelinette, is a garden tool used to manually break up densely packed soil, including hardpan, to improve aeration and drainage. Broadforks are used as part of a no-till or reduced-till seedbed preparation process because they preserve the soil structure and avoid the resurfacing of weed seeds. It consists of five or so metal tines, approximately eight inches long, spaced a few inches apart on a horizontal bar, with two handles extending upwards to chest or shoulder level that form a large U-shape. The operator steps up on the crossbar, using full bodyweight to drive the tines into the ground, then steps backward while pulling backwards on the handles, causing the tines to lever upwards through the soil. This action leaves the soil layers intact, rather than inverting or mixing them, preserving the topsoil structure. A broadfork can be used in a garden, or practically for one to two acres (4,000 to 8,000 m²). For larger areas, a tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aquaponics
Aquaponics is a food production system that couples aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as fish, crayfish, snails or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) whereby the nutrient-rich aquaculture water is fed to hydroponically grown plants. As existing hydroponic and aquaculture farming techniques form the basis of all aquaponic systems, the size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an aquaponic system can vary as much as any system found in either distinct farming discipline. History Aquaponics has ancient roots, although there is some debate on its first occurrence: *Aztec cultivated agricultural islands known as ''chinampas'' in a system considered by some to be an early form of aquaponics for agricultural use, where plants were raised on stationary (or sometime movable) islands in lake shallows and waste materials dredged from the Chinampa canals and surrounding cities were used to manually irrigate the plants. *South China and the whole ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Mollison
Bruce Charles "Bill" Mollison (4 May 1928 – 24 September 2016) was an Australian researcher, author, scientist, teacher and biologist. In 1981, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award "for developing and promoting the theory and practice of permaculture". Permaculture (from "permanent agriculture")Tortorello, Michael (27 July 2011) is an integrated system of ecological and environmental design which Mollison co-developed with David Holmgren, and which they together envisioned as a perennial and sustainable form of agriculture. In 1974, Mollison began his collaboration with Holmgren, and in 1978 they published their book ''Permaculture One'', which introduced this design system to the general public. Mollison founded The Permaculture Institute in Tasmania, and created the education system to train others under the umbrella of permaculture. This education system of "train the trainer", utilized through a formal Permaculture Design Course and Certification (PDC), has taught ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waitara, New South Wales
Waitara is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region, or North Shore, Sydney, Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 19 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of Hornsby Shire. History Waitara is a word in the Māori language, Maori language that means ''hail, pure water'' or ''hail, wide steps''. (There is also a town in New Zealand named "Waitara, New Zealand, Waitara".)''The Book of Sydney Suburbs'', Compiled by Frances Pollon, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia , page 262 The suburb takes its name from the Waitara River in New Zealand, where Australian troops fought as Imperial volunteers during the Maori Wars. European settlement Myles McRae once owned land in Southern Sydney, near Hurstville, New South Wales, Hurstville. When he sold that land to a development company, the manager used the name Waitara for the subdivision project. McCr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheet Mulching
In permaculture, sheet mulching is an agricultural no-dig gardening technique that attempts to mimic the natural soil-building process in forests. When deployed properly and in combination with other permaculture principles, it can generate healthy, productive, and low maintenance ecosystems. Sheet mulching, also known as composting in place, mimics nature by breaking down organic material from the topmost layers down. The simplest form of sheet mulching consists of applying a bottom layer of decomposable material, such as cardboard or newspapers, to the ground to kill existing vegetation and suppress weeds. Then, a top layer of organic mulch is applied. More elaborate sheet mulching involves more layers. Sheet mulching is used to transform a variety of surfaces into a fertile soil that can be planted. Sheet mulching can be applied to a lawn, a dirt lot full of perennial weeds, an area with poor soil, or even pavement or a rooftop. Technique A model for sheet mulching consist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fungi
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from the other eukaryotic kingdoms, which by one traditional classification include Plantae, Animalia, Protozoa, and Chromista. A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protists is chitin in their cell walls. Fungi, like animals, are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize. Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems. These and other differences place fungi in a single group of related organisms, named the ''Eumycota'' (''t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Dowding
Charles Dowding is an English horticulturalist and author who has pioneered modern no dig and organic soil management since 1983. Life and work Dowding spent his childhood on a dairy farm in Somerset. He graduated from his degree in geography at Cambridge University in 1980, having been influenced by environmental writers such as Rachel Carson. "How does your garden grow" ''Guardian'' 4 November 2015 In the 1980s he worked for a hotel . Quarto Books biography /ref> Dowding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soil Drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditions that harm root growth), but many soils need artificial drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies. History Early history The Indus Valley civilization had sewerage and drainage systems. All houses in the major cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had access to water and drainage facilities. Waste water was directed to covered gravity sewers, which lined the major streets. 18th and 19th century The invention of hollow-pipe drainage is credited to Sir Hugh Dalrymple, who died in 1753. Current practices Geotextiles New storm water drainage systems incorporate geotextile filters that retain and prevent fine grains of soil from passing into and clogging the drain. Geotextiles are synthetic textile fabrics specially m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spent Mushroom Compost
Spent mushroom compost is the residual compost waste generated by the mushroom production industry. Background It is readily available (bagged, at nursery suppliers), and its formulation generally consists of a combination of wheat straw, dried blood, horse manure and ground chalk, composted together. It is an excellent source of humus, although much of its nitrogen content will have been used up by the composting and growing mushrooms. It remains, however, a good source of general nutrients (0.7% N, 0.3% P, 0.3% K plus a full range of trace elements), as well as a useful soil conditioner. However, due to its chalk content, it may be alkaline, and should not be used on acid-loving plants, nor should it be applied too frequently, as it will overly raise the soil's pH levels. Mushroom compost may also contain pesticide residues, particularly organochlorides used against the fungus gnat. If the compost pile was stored outside, it may contain grubs or other insects attract ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
