kiwi reaching up over olives trees, dancing with the giant pine...
one of the few places where there was for a while an actual 'compost heap' 😊
Dearest Gardening Friends,
a typical spot, under some citrus trees, where there's dried-out raw compost/ ash/ etc.
This is a post around composting yes, but not in terms of any system per se - this is more about the beauty and power of living in tune with Nature, and taking the right actions to make space for Nature to do what she does the best: thrive!
first ever fruits on a peach tree, which self-seeded in the perfect position, from a pile of 'dumped' compost!
I've studied composting in multiple contexts, climates and countries: I've worked gardens in rural and urban situations, and have been composting my organic waste for most of my life. It somehow never seems appropriate to either mix organic 'waste' with non-biodegradable rubbish, or to not find some way to return it to Nature. There are almost always ways to get what we don't eat back into the ecosystem: from having a wormery in an apartment to using a neighbour's garden compost bin to having the town council pick up the umido three times a week like here in south Italy - and now I've been composting so long, I think I'd find a way to put it out into the wilds somewhere, no matter where I was living...
chayote grows up through most of the trees in Sergio's garden: it is an incredibly abundant vegetable, which needs minimal attention here in south Italy - and can flourish in all kinds of conditions
But when I was younger, I spent a lot of time training in ideas and systems - permaculture, biodynamics, organic gardening, no-dig, etc. - and these have all served a purpose, but since I lived next to these big wild gardens and do not actually own the land that I'm 'working' on, my approach got more wild and organic - just like the spaces I'm spending time in! For multiple reasons, I've stopped working with a big container to house any rotting food scraps, and am taking to dumping the buckets from the kitchen into various corners and under trees in the gardens.
above, the gelsi/ mulberry tree: this year it had extraordinarily large fruits, as you can see below:
BUT as you can see below, the mulberry tree, and in fact a lot of the structured part of the garden, sits on these big wire-held 'boxes' of rocks, that had little earth in them to begin with, and which lose a lot of moisture and soil very quickly when it rains, as it falls down into the depths, and the plants cannot benefit from it
I really love this 'method': I tune in each time to where the trees or plants most need mulching and nutriment, and throw it there, then do a bit of weeding, to create a cover over the compost, so as not to have lots of flies and/ or attract rats and the like. In another area, this might not be suitable, but because the gardens are private enough, I can do this 'messy composting' and not bother anyone with it.
Apart from saving time and energy, as Sergio's garden is down many very steep steps and the climate gets super-scorchio and mosquito-y in summer months, there are multiple other benefits to this 'lazy' composting:
- The mulch creates a layer of protection for the roots of the plants or trees; retaining water and avoiding the drying out of the soil immediate to the core of the plant.
- The protective layer also stops other plants growing and getting entangled with the stem of the plant.
- The nutriment from the rotting food goes directly into the soil and the roots around the plant, without any added work of turning the compost, and then distributing it to specific places: I just tune in to who needs it most and throw it there.
- Depending on what I've put in the compost bin, the mulch might have things like ash which provide alkaline-supporting treatment for the plants - which can also deter insects.
and my favourite benefit of all; - Occasional seeds will germinate and provide a new tree, bush or plant that I put minimal effort into 'cultivating'!
This latter reason is one of the greatest things about composting altogether: even if I was using a compost container, I'd be expecting a nice crop of tatties (potatoes) from it at the end of a season! Our seeds should be distributed freely in a growing space, so that they can decide themselves if they want to grow new plants. I love that: Nature invariably makes very good decisions about where to grow a thing: a seed will come forth into a plant only if certain very specific qualities are present in the space, the soil and the microclimate. Allowing more diverse microclimates to flourish in any garden, means that seeds will more likely find a space to flourish too. A more diverse space gives a greater variety of opportunities to any and all seeds coming down from the kitchen.
another beautiful example of self-seeding, but from nature - on top of the old compost heap: a HUGE mallow/ malva tree - very beneficial on many levels
It is such a magical moment when a new tree sets up suddenly, which I didn't directly plant there. This year, a 'self-planted' peach tree is making its first fruits! What a joy, I'd not have thought to plant a peach tree here because they're a bit sensitive for this elevation, but because it chose to root itself, I can trust more in this (than in my transactional choice to buy a tree and plant it): allowing Natural Law and the sacred will of the plant to manifest - letting the cosmos come into being, by allowing the natural order of things to flow into creative manifestation.
a wee olive tree, taking advantage of my Not Weeding Much gardening approach!
This approach fits with another gardening method that I use, of sowing seeds by lifting and throwing (older) seeding plants strategically into the kinds of general areas that I know they'll be happy in (often, right next to where the parent plant grew) - not planting individual seeds in isolation (as is the norm in a modern garden), and then transplanting them out - which cause great upheaval to any young plant as the environment changes dramatically from the potting place to the outside soil. A plant growing itself is much more likely to be in the perfect spot, and to already be thriving without any servicing from us.
some canes that love to live near this corner, and are benefiting from compost 'run-off' above
The only disadvantage that I can see to using a mulching-composting method like this, is if there are not enough cats around to take care of 'vermin' - though I think we need rats just as much as any other animal in our biodiversity of life - or if one doesn't cover the compost well enough so it becomes smelly in the sun, but this can always be remedied by adding a layer of grass or any weeds that are nearby, to cover the compost. Mostly my kitchen scraps are relatively clean: I would almost never have any bones or meat scraps, as the cats will eat those. Plus I have a lot of nice mulch-able stuffs like bamboo skins, citrus peels, ash from my wood-burning stove, and cores of multifarious fruits and vegetables; enough things to sort of water-down the intensity of other rotting things.
a typical area with olives and figs close together, and the spontaneous peach tree to the left, which is mulched by loads of brash, compost ...and nasturtiums
Some fruits flourishing much better, because of having intense amounts of mulching and compost these years - and from the unusually epic rainfall this spring:
A final super-important factor in my composting approach: I consciously bless the seeds as I cut open a fruit, knowing that with that extra reinforcement, it is more likely to want to live a life fully, nearby. It is so easy to prove our I M M E N S E co-creative potential, by doing things like that - just giving gratitude and gifting things back to Nature for her to benefit from.
And another typical kind of micro-climate in the garden: to hte left a spontaneous apple tree, on the right a kiwi climbing up into the olive from out of the oranges trees on the level below, and a carpet of mulch, nasturtiums and strawberries
The gifts that we get from the soil and the elements, SHOULD ALWAYS be returned - not out of the weight of it being a chore we 'have to' participate in in order to get our goodies, but because we are so incredibly blessed - so when we focus on each and every blessing that we're getting freely from earth and sky (rather than on what we 'don't have'), then it's amazing how things flow more easily, less effortfully, more abundantly year-on-year. And how our place in the mystical beauty of it all, simply Is - we peace-fully inhabit a rich earth and are supported by all things around us.
the lovely tamarillo, with capers above-right, and a (rather cramped!) lemon tree in behind it, and below lots of edible leaves like self-seeding chard, plantago and borage
