11 Gardening Principles That Our Ancestors Followed. And They Still Work!
Gardening these days is not a particularly demanding tasks. With the myriad of tools, machines and chemical agents at our disposal, taking care of your own piece of land is a piece of cake. However, in the past things didn’t use to be that easy. Our grandparents had to rely on natural, yet technologically less advanced methods. So let’s find out what gardening was all about back in the past.
#1 The Moon calendar
The moon has direct impact on vegetation. As a result, it affects the timing of particular gardening activities. For example, new moon is the most appropriate time to start fighting pests while full moon is the time to sow onions, carrots or plant cabbages.
#2 The power of our hands
Since there were no herbicides, all weeds were removed with their own hands.
#3 The knowledge of healing properties of plants
Our ancestors knew very well which plants deserved a spot in their gardens thanks to their medical advantages. This knowledge, passed from generation to generation, allowed them to treat sore throat with sage, indigestions with mint and insomnia with chamomile.
#4 Never cut wet grass
They knew it all so well that cutting wet grass makes it more susceptible to disease and decreases its immunity to microorganisms. Moreover, a dewy lawn will not look very good simply because it will never be trimmed properly.
#5 Inviting ladybugs
Ladybugs are natural enemies of aphids. No wonder then that they would attract the insects by planting yellow flowers, sprinkle plants with sugary water (the insects love sweet things) and providing them with shelter for the winter (piles of leaves, compost and holes filled with straw and hay).
#6 Natural fertilizers
The best natural fertilizers are based on animal excrements and compost (this can be made of old tea leaves, coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable peels, weeds and wood ash).
#7 Nobody bought seeds in gardening stores
There weren’t any stores of course. They would get the seeds from the plants they grew and keep them until the next spring to sow them.
#8 Natural pesticides and herbicides only
To protect the plants against weeds and pests they would always rely on natural agents only. They were based on garlic, baking soda, onion or horsetail.
#9 Crop rotation
This old technique was fundamental. It allowed them to stay self-sufficient so they didn’t have to rely on vegetables bought on markets or in shops.
#10 They knew how to sow well
To sow the seeds proportionally, they had their reliable tricks. With the smallest ones, they pour them into a salt cellar and then sow it. With the bigger ones, they would make a kind of a shaker made of an old tin, with holes pierced with a hot nail.
#11 Appropriate arrangement
They were aware that plants have their preferences as for their ‘neighbors’. Appropriate arrangement of vegetables in your garden prevents the spread of diseases and pests. For example, peas do not tolerate the proximity of onion, while beans feel very good with pumpkins around.
Do you use any of these traditional tricks in your garden?
