About
let’s talk gardening… with nature
Gardening with nature is nothing new. It’s an activity that has been done for many, many years. Some may say thousands of years.
It’s just that, at least here in North America (or Canada, where I live), gardening has been more about… well, the plants, and not much else.
Let put it another way. In my observations, gardening has largely been made out to be a constant fight against nature. Nature, being pests, weeds, the soil itself, and the weather.
We’re very good at asking a lot of “how,” “what,” and “when” questions. For example, how to kill pests/weeds, how to water my garden (and how often), how to protect against frost, what fertilizer I need, what tools I need, when to seed, when to harvest, when to water best, and so on.
But we’re not very good at asking WHY. Why are these weeds here? Why are these pests attacking my tomatoes? Why must I water my garden this often? Why is my soil infertile, and I have to fertilize it every so often?
The point I’m making is that our approach to gardening requires a lot of hard work, a lot of money, and overthinking. We’re too busy battling against nature to stop and think about why we’re waging war in the first place.
Gardening with Nature seeks to find these answers and then ask the tough questions as to how we can do better–without reaching for the jug of PestBGone or ripping that weed out of the ground.
Who am I?
My name is Karin, and I’m the author of Gardening with Nature. I live in Alberta, Canada, and have an avid interest in gardening, nature, ecology… pretty much anything to do with plants and the soil.
My avid interest in gardening started when I was little. I helped Mom out as much as I could, but as I grew up and moved off the farm, I was forced to also move away from it.
Along with an interest in gardening I am also interested in nature. Birds, insects, plants, and animals have also fascinated me since I was a child. My past career in agriculture collided with it, and I found myself wanting to find ways to marry agriculture with nature. In so doing, I found regenerative agriculture.
Much of what I learned about regenerative agriculture didn’t come from my university studies; instead, it’s been self-taught, from watching webinars to visiting an unspeakable number of farms, talking with farmers, and attending field-day demonstrations.
Before now, I was interested in applying it to farming. However, I’ve been finding there are enormous applications to gardening. Especially in my own backyard.
And, why not share my findings with others? I guess this is the reason for the very creation of this site.
For Nature & Science
I love nature, but I also love science. I really like sharing scientifically proven information.
While this isn’t a myth-busting blog per se (there’s already one on the web that I highly recommend checking out), it is a place where I share my knowledge and experiences in gardening and what I’ve learned about growing plants, caring for the soil, dealing with weeds and your typical garden pests, and so on.
I mention “scientifically proven” because the last thing I want to do is share information that is false or doesn’t work in real life.
So, I’m keen to try to stick with the facts and share information that gets you and your garden as close to nature as possible. But make that correct, fact-based information. Not myths and beliefs that have never been proven as scientifically valid.
So, Be Warned: you may not like what I have to share. No doubt there’ll be stuff that you disagree with, even when the scientific facts are there. That’s okay. I know how deeply ingrained beliefs get, even when the evidence is stacked against them. I just ask you to open your mind, stop and think about some of these hacks or beliefs that get spread about but are not backed up by science, and see things a bit differently.
I don’t want to turn this into another gardening myth-busting blog. But… when there’s science to defend, and nature-based/organic gardening myths to address… consider it a form of “call to action.”
Happy reading, and happy gardening!