Mother's Minigardens

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Time

Of the four methods evaluated in this experiment, the DM system required the least time. Most of the work was done in the fall, when mulch materials were gathered and spread over the entire garden. There was no digging, weeding, or cultivating—tasks that require considerable time in other methods.

The other three methods, of course, require that the soil be worked each year. There did not seem to be a significant time difference between the two rototill methods, although the raised-bed garden did take a little more time, for constructing the bed and doing more hand-weeding.

The BFI method was clearly the most timeconsuming . . . the extra labor resulting, of course, from the need to hand-dig the two-foot-deep beds. We spent about eight hours digging the 168-square-foot bed in our minigarden's heavy clay soil. Two hours of that were spent on the initial double-digging, while six hours were required for tilthing (breaking up the soil clumps with a hand fork). The time involved would decrease in better—or previously hand-dug—soil.

Long-Term Effects

Any of the four methods in our experiment will, if it includes adequate organic fertilization and proper care, be sustainable and lead to soil improvement. But there is little doubt in my mind that the hand-worked, biodynamic/French intensive method leads to the most rapid improvement in soil condition and the most profound changes over time. It can literally transform the nature of a soil. The depth to which the ground is worked, the fact that the beds are permanent and never compacted, and the concentration of amendments are all very beneficial to the soil. Even BFI's dense "equilateral triangle" planting system, which involves spacing plants so that their outside leaves just overlap and thus create a living mulch, helps to protect the soil surface from the' damaging effects of hot summer sun and concentrates the efforts of ground-loosening roots, as well.

The rototilled, raised-bed method approximates these effects but never reaches down to loosen the subsoil or break up any hardpan. Nevertheless, it will bring about a far greater and more rapid soil improvement than will a conventional rototilled garden, which will usually have no permanent distinction between vegetable area and pathway. Indeed, the downward motion of a tiller's tines can actually lead to the creation of a hardpan in the soil just at the bottom of its reach . . . diminishing drainage and blocking root movement. The pathways—as much as two-thirds of the garden, remember—will be walked upon, pounded by rains, and baked by the sun, and thus those areas will have little chance to improve.

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