[NoraSpinnor]

Raised beds are popular, but require more money in wood and potting mix and work against nature. Bagged soil is usually dead soil from a biological perspective.

Healthy soil is a living system. A small amount of soil can contain billions of microbes. Fungal networks act like long-distance plumbing and nutrient delivery for plants. Most terrestrial plants form mycorrhizal partnerships, trading sugars for minerals and water access. These networks take time to form, and disturbance tears them apart.

Raised beds usually mean lots of tilling and processing, all of which disturbs microbes. Tilling also means more weeds because it brings buried weed seeds up toward the surface with access to sunlight. Each time we till, we return to grounder; we have to start a new microbial network.

This video is highly worth a watch. Midway through, it emphasizes some no-tilling techniques and their results. One farmer increases his yield each year by leaving his soil untouched.

You won’t see the biggest no till results the first year; it’s the second, third, and onward where the results become apparent. It’s also important to consider the biodiversity of your plants. We encourage co-cropping, meaning planting several different types of compatible plants in the same space. This allows the microbes to diversify and feed one another and it is better than rotating your crops because they are all living at the same time.

Have you seen this before? Do you plan on using it? Share your thoughts.

[Healing_Lotus]

Glad I caught this BEFORE I put in the raised beds I was planning to do this year. They are expensive but they are everywhere I thought it would be such a good thing for plants. Turns out it’s another cash grab and nature does it much better. Going to share this with a friend of mine too.

[Bastet]

I am all for any lazy gardening strategy but even more so if its good for the planet 🍃🌍💚

[Author]

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