Why gardening organically is so important for gardeners

Our plants are not affected by black spot or powdery mildew because our garden is one of the most biodiverse gardens in Australia. In fact, we have more plant species per hectare than even the most complex botanic garden.
We currently grow over a thousand different varieties of vegetables, cottage flowers, fruit trees and shrubs on 1.5 hectares. This biodiverse range of plants keeps insects and diseases in check naturally because good bugs keep the bad bugs in balance.

But that is the opposite of modern agriculture’s greatest folly – pushing farmers into monocropping (i.e. removing all trees, ploughing the farm and planting just one crop of wheat over a 100 hectare site, and being totally dependant on the mass spraying of weed killers, pesticides and fertilisers to keep the crop alive).
In this process, Australia’s soil fertility gradually declines and our soils hold less water. So when we export wheat overseas what is really happening is that we are effectively exporting our precious soil, which has taken millions of years to create, as well as our increasingly scarce water resources, in exchange for the imports of fertilisers and chemicals.

We gardeners don’t need to buy any of these chemicals. After 20 years of recycling at Heronswood and The Garden of St Erth, our organic levels have reached over 20% carbon compared with 2-3% levels of cropped farms.

Organic soils hold lots of water, which reduces flammability during a bushfire

Italian farmers have fed their populations for over 2,000 years with sensible, sustainable farming but, because of our move to monoculture farming, our soil fertility is declining after just 100 years. And one of the reasons our forests are burning is that our soil carbon levels have too little organic matter to hold the moisture levels that would prevent the blast furnace-like bushfires we have experienced this summer.

Apocalyptic bushfires spew 66% of our annual carbon budget in 3 months

The devastating fires that have ravaged Australia have had a catastrophic impact on our country, wildlife, flora and communities. 

Many of our Diggers members and friends have been directly affected and the process of rebuilding homes, gardens and lives will be slow. We have put together some resources in the gardening advice section of the Diggers website on gardening to reduce your risk of fire and garden recovery after bushfires. We are also working with some of our key partners in affected areas to distribute Diggers seeds for community projects in fire-affected communities and this will be an ongoing project for many months and years.

Some plants are more flammable than others. While the scent of gum trees is our most endearing nostalgic connection to home, and eucalypt forests provide habitat for much of our wildlife, we are witnessing the threat they can pose in times of extreme heat as climate change takes hold.

We Australians choose to live along the coast because it’s the coolest part of the country, but that’s also where our greatest threat is because the forest trees are eucalyptic.

This conundrum that faces us all was brought into stark relief over summer. Despite all the entreaties at the last election from environmentalists, scientists and policy makers to abandon coal and live a sustainable existence, the mantra of economic growth prevailed. Ironically, it wasn’t until the recent bushfire horrors reached a worldwide screen that a tipping point was reached; and the clearest message came from Australian celebrities rather than climate scientists.

I have been a fanatical bush walker all my life. I have walked through thousands of miles of eucalypt forests. Most of the beautiful eucalypts are located along alpine high plains from Mt Kosciuszko to Mt Buffalo, Mt Hotham and the Howitt High Plains. They have been blackened, and most for the second time in 60 years. It is a tragedy that is not going away.

Australia has been the most dogged proponent of economic growth for decades – ignoring that we as a country are the world’s most polluting (per capita) and least economically sustainable. Yet, with so much sunshine and land, we have the opportunity to replace coal and create an economy that is totally renewable and climate positive.

Nature has shown us its powers of destruction. When will we learn to live in harmony with it?