Components of biointensive gardening. This material is taken from John Jeavons' How to Grow More Vegetables* (*than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine.) www.growbiointensive.org is the website of Ecology Action, from which Aurora receives inspiration and support. Our training focus is based on Ecology Action's work around the world -- with special emphasis on the specific needs of SE Iowa and the surrounding region with its cold, dry winters, hot humid summers, and heavy clay soils. While some of the soils in the region are still somewhat fertile, most of the good top soil has disappeared through poor farming methods - including, but not limited to wind and water erosion and the killing of soil microbial life through chemical fertilization and application of pesticides. Loss of microbial life means increased leaching of existing nutrients out of the soil. Now there are additional dangers in the use of GMO crops which cause "super-bugs" and diseases to naturally develop.

Aurora AgriCultural Learning Center provides all day hands-on workshops on these topics throughout the year, with mini-workshops every October at the Harvest Festival. In addition, the Apprenticeship Program provides free year round training in these topics -- and much more.

• Bed Preparation
• Fertilization
• Composting
• Seed Propagation
• Crop Rotation
• Companion Planting
• Ecosystem and Insect Life

Raised bed preparation is the most important step in biointensive gardening. Proper structure and nutrients allow uninterrupted and healthy plant growth. It is very different from the usual situation when a seedling is transplanted from a flat with loose soil and proper nutrients into a hastily prepared backyard plot. The plant suffers from shock and is suddenly placed in an environment where it is more difficult to grow.

The first time, preparing and planting a raised bed is a lot of work -- 6-12 hours for a 100 square foot bed. After the first crop, 4-6 hours are needed. However, once the beds are planted, only about 5-10 minutes a day is needed to maintain an area large enough to feed one person with vegetables for 12 months in a 4-6 month growing season!

In hard, dry clay soils, the initial process includes the following steps: Soil testing, thorough watering, let the soil rest 2 days, loosening soil with fork, lightly watering again, letting the soil rest 1 day. In addition: sand, compost and or manure (one time only) is added, depending on soil conditions. The bed is double dug, leveled and shaped, watered gently by hand and let rest again. Finally organic fertilizers are added depending on the results of the soil test. Finally tamping and planting or transplanting. Workshop registration.

Double digging is the term used for the process of preparing the soil about 24" deep. There are a number of double-dig variations: initial, ongoing, complete texturizing, and u-bar. The resulting bed will be 2-10 inches higher than original surface of the soil and contains 50% air space. This is the key to improved plant health. It has good texture determined by its basic ingredients, silt, clay and sand, and good structure - the way its ingredients hold together. "The goal is to create a sumptuous 'living sponge cake'."Workshop registration.

How to Grow More Vegetables describes three goals of fertilization:

• "to build nutrients up to their proper levels and balances for the soil type, rainfall, climate, exposure to the sun, altitude, and cation-exchange capacity."
• "to keep those nutrients in your food-raising area by composting properly and recycling all wastes."
• "to use enough nutrients, water, and compost in your growing area."

"During a drought years ago, several women in India grew food using biointensive methods. Their production was double that of others who used single-dug row cropping procedures. One woman got even higher yields than other biointensive gardeners by using her one unit of water, fertilizers, and seed on one growing area. Hoping for higher yields, the others had spread their single units of resources over seven to fifteen units of growing area. The woman with the best results got more total production in one-seventh to one-fifteenth the area."

One of our goals is to design a living soil test kit for this region - that can be "read" to determine existing soil nutrient levels in the soil of that area. Jeavons points out that until about 100 years ago this was how farmers determined soil nutrient needs.

Coursework in fertilization includes, not only this living kit, but use of professional and home soil kits, understanding pH (the relative acidity/alkalinity) of the soil water, and how to, over time, need less and less outside fertilizer. A "closed system" garden, using only your own materials includes using your own vegetables at home and returning the residues to the system, growing trees, which bring up deep nutrients from the subsoil into the leaves, raising plants strictly for compost, and maintaining a 4-5% organic matter level in the upper 6" of soil. Maintaining humus in the soil encourages microbial life growth, which can keep key nutrients from leaching out of the soil. Workshop registration.

Compost improves the structure of the soil and provides nutrients for plant growth, nutrients which are more available due to organic acids. Improved structure and nourishment produces healthy soil, which produces healthy plants more resistant to insect and disease attack. Nature replenishes itself through cycles of life and death of plants and animals. Using compost follows nature's example by returning organic matter: leaves, grass, weeds, prunings, and kitchen vegetable residues to the soil.

Microscopic life in the soil produces the decaying effect, resulting in humus and humus compounds, stabilizing nitrogen in its structure and ultimately, in the soil. Thus, humus holds and redistributes nutrients in the soil through biological transformations in the compost pile and in the soil. It becomes the becomes the most reliable plant food - holding what is not needed, and releasing what is needed through a fascinating exchange involving an active exchange between humus and roots.

Building quality compost which is high in humified carbon uses soil, as a starter supply of microorganisms, dry vegetation and green vegetation. The simple recipe is:

by weight, and in the following order:
• 1/3 dry vegetation,
• 1/3 green vegetation, including kitchen wastes, and
• 1/3 soil (slightly less for our heavy clay soil)

You can speed up the process, although the resulting compost is lower quality.

• increase nitrogen, such as freshly cut grass, fresh manure, blood meal, etc.
• increase the amount of air - by properly layering of porus materials and turning the pile
• increase the surface area of the materials - by finely chopping them

Other forms of composting for specialized conditions are sheet composting and green manure composting. For more information, refer to How to Grow More Vegetables Workshop registration.

Most people, even those who pride themselves on gardening organically, start their seeds in nice loose soil, and then transplant them into conditions considerably less friendly. The biointensive method embodies the "breakfast-lunch-dinner" method - with good conditions and nutrition in the flat, in another flat or larger container, and finally in the garden.

Here's a summary of the process. Flats should be at least 3" deep, a critical dimension for proper root development. A good planting medium is 1/3 by weight compost, sharp sand, and turf loam - providing a fertile loose-textured medium. First seeds are started in flats, about as deep as the thin dimension of the seed. They are transplanted once into wider spacing in a flat, and then into the garden, handling them as little as possible each time - only by the tips of the leaves, or the soil around the roots.

Jeavons tells this story:

"A biodynamic gardener once had a row of brocolli plants. Only two had aphids on them, and both were quite infested. The two plants were dug up and the gardener discovered the plants had experienced root damage during transplanting. The healthy broccoli which had experienced uninterrupted growth, went untouched by the insects, while nature eliminated the unhealthy plants."

But for best results, read the additional details in How to Grow More Vegetables or take a Workshop. In addition there are the considerations of planting by phases of the moon. We recommend the Stella Natura calendar - which considers not only moon phases, but planetary phases.

Watering in the biointensive method attempts to approximate rainfall - with the watering "rose" pointing upwards so only the force of gravity pulls down. Haws watering rose, and Ross watering fans are good. Daily light watering creates a deliciously moist atmosphere for plants - but good air circulation is essential. Some plants, such as the cabbage family, like wet leaves. In our humid summers, wet leaves are a problem for many plants, including tomatoes, peas, squash, melon - which can easily get mildew, wilt, etc. For these plants take care to water early in the morning so the leaves can dry. Drip systems and soaker hoses are useful. How to Grow More Vegetables has an extensive section on watering (as it does for everything).