The concept and practise of crop rotation is not a new one there are ancient Roman, African and Asian archaeological references to its practice and theory. But it was not until 8 - 13 CE during the global Muslim Agricultural Revolution (MAR), that it became well known and widely introduced into global farming practises. It is only with the fairly new advent of inorganic pesticides and fertilisers that crop rotation lost favour and was mistakenly replaced. There is however a return to or innovation of these old practices through the systems of sustainable farming as seen in organic farming, permaculture, polyculture etc. It is becoming undeniably self-evident that modern petro-chemical reliant commercial farming is not only un-sustainable but increasingly damaging to the environment. Full Article

-In human systems, we have confused the order of hierarchical function with status and power, as though a tree stem were less important than the leaves in total- Bill Mollison. In this series I have talked about various elements of an organic garden like, compost, pests, companion planting etc. But it is how we place these elements that determine their effectiveness within your garden system and this is called System Design. System design is perhaps the most powerful tool in any organic gardener's repertoire. Through careful analysis of a multitude of factors and the combination of all elements it is possible through system design to achieve over-abundance and maximum efficiency within your garden/system. Full Article

In the estimated 10 000 years modern man has been cultivating, through a practical empirical understanding, relationships between plants were recognised, utilised and extended in our cultivation techniques. This relationship knowledge has come to be known Companion Planting. One of the oldest known companion planting techniques comes from the Native Americans and is called the Three Sisters. This technique comprises three staple foods maize (corn), beans and pumpkin that are planted together in a companion plant group. Full Article

We have only been using inorganic pesticides for the last 4 decades, and the first one DDT, was only discovered in 1948 by Paul Muller a Swiss chemist. Now you might remember what a miracle and then fiasco DDT was and still is. To put this in perspective modern man has been cultivating crops since 8000 BC. That's 9,955 years we have been successfully farming without the benefit of Mr. Heller's discovery and his resultant family of pesticides. The general rule of organic gardening is to try and emulate a natural healthy system. Organic pest control can be accomplished in a number of ways, I am going to focus on; biomass, diversity, and laziness. Full Article

On the farm, Compost Day came twice a year and was an event unto itself. No matter the weather we dressed for the occasion in gumboots and little else. On that day we would turn out the main cow byre and create new 5 metre high compost heaps. Right next to them we would de-construct the old ones and cart them off to the growing fields to be lined up ready for use. It was our May Day and hazing all rolled into one, because no matter how careful you were come sun down, even the dogs would have a hard time smelling who you were. Full Article

-If it aint what I'm eating it's a weed- is a popular gardening myth and it is just that, a myth. Personally I think it is another convenient broad generalisation that encompasses any plant that is not fully understood or highly cultivated. Yes, there certainly are particular plants to watch out for, which given the slightest chance will envelope your garden. But there are also plenty of other useful plants to have in your garden that are not such bullies. What I want to concentrate on is some of the more general, helpful and unhelpful wild plants and how to deal with them organically. Full Article