Back to Eden Gardening

There are a few things I hate about gardening. Weeding, pests, watering and dying plants are the culprits. Back to Eden gardening minimizes all of these. Click here to subscribe to my mailing list.

Back to Eden Gardening is God’s way of gardening. Most gardens in America have sprinklers to keep them watered and alive. How do plants in nature stay alive without sprinklers? Aren’t nature and your garden getting the same amount of rain? Then how does nature stay alive without watering while your garden would die?

The answer is, everything in nature has a covering. In the forest the ground is covered in dead leaves, pine needles, and decomposing wood. Next time you go to the woods, dig your hand into the soil and you will see a covering of decomposing material that is over the bare dirt. Our gardens are lacking a covering.

Paul Gautschi in Washington came to this conclusion and copied nature in his own gardening practices. Instead of the traditional method of tilling the soil, he would just add a covering of decomposed wood chips to his garden year after year. Doing this he had to use little or no water and his plants flourished.

Bugs choke and die when they bite his plump produce because the plants are so juicy. Weeds struggle to come through the covering. If they make it through, they can easily be removed with the drag of a rake. He has tested his soil, and there is a natural occurring balance of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. No fertilizer is needed and his plants look super healthy.

There are two reasons we till the soil. One, is to put oxygen back into it. The other, is to make it soft for tender plant roots to grow well. Having a covering naturally gives the plants all the oxygen it needs. The soil is also naturally softened by the decomposing compost as it continues to break down.

It is a simple process. Paul has eight steps for how to get “Back to Eden” in your gardening.