Other Natural Principles To Help You Be Laidback, but Effective!

This text concludes a series in which I have shared the great lessons that nature has taught me over time. Over the years, one realizes that garden maintenance becomes the number one enemy of the ever-aging gardener. Yet, we also learn to go with the flow, to observe rather than fight, because, after all, old age should rhyme with laidbackness, but above all with intelligence.

In my previous articles, I covered several principles that help better understand how a garden functions and how to cultivate with less effort. I explored wisdom gleaned from nature, followed by other great lessons that have helped me shift my perspective on what happens in my garden.

Here is a reminder of the first five principles that I shared:

1. Nature’s Shepherd’s Pie: the structure of the soil where vegetation lives;
2. Garments of the Earth: which manage the soil protection layer;
3. The oil lamp: which ensures a constant supply of water to plants;
4. Survival of the fittest: principle of natural selection;
5. Light, the source of plant life: helps to eliminate and manage unwanted plants.

To complete the series, here are three final principles that help us better accept nature’s decisions, even when they don’t go our way. Just because we want something in the garden doesn’t mean that nature will grant it to us. By understanding its rules, we learn to garden with nature, rather than against it. So, here is the sixth principle that I have named:

A Leopard Can’t Change Its Spots

Nature will always plant the right plants in the right environments. For example, we find cacti in the desert, cattails in wetlands, grass in meadows in the sun and not under a wooded canopy, algae in the water, shade plants in the shade, etc.

The natural world takes its course. Nothing and no one can stop it, because it is governed by universal and ageless laws. It has a great capacity to adapt and is in a state of constant transformation. But it is still governed by the same laws and we are not the ones to change that.

Horticulture has developed considerably over the years. New discoveries in genetics have led to the discovery of varieties of fruit and vegetables with different tastes, shapes and colors; flowers and other super-productive plants… But what price do we have to pay for all these changes?

When increasing certain genetic characteristics of a plant, it is often done to the detriment of other characteristics. My parents and grandparents didn’t have 200 kinds of petunias, they didn’t need different fertilizers or pesticides, and their petunias were productive.

My Observations

What I see is that human beings are always looking for more. I have nothing against creativity and discovery, but by always wanting more novelty, human beings denature their environment.

Could it be that this quest for novelty stems from the fact that, not knowing the keys to success, our results are often mediocre and we look for something better? If we alter the ecological balance by introducing different plants, the rest of the ecosystem will also change. If we use cultivation methods that do not respect the basic principles of nature, we will have to spend time and money to compensate or correct.

With 40 years of observation, I realize that the better things get, the more complicated life is. The more horticulture and gardening evolve, the more difficult it is to be satisfied with them, simply because our habits and cultivation practices have moved away from the basic principles of nature. What is the point of having the latest flowers if we can’t properly look after what we already have? What is the point of spending a fortune on highly denaturalized plants, because they are obviously the most expensive, and then having to buy pesticides and fertilizers to save them, because they are more fragile and more demanding than plants adapted to our environment? What is the point of trying to prevent the growth of certain plants in order to persevere in growing a variety that is not suited to the conditions and that needs to be constantly pampered?

A Good Example

The best example is that of the traditional lawn, which originated in Great Britain. As the ecosystem here is not the same, it is difficult to maintain beautiful lawns. They need constant care, otherwise they disappear to be replaced by what are known as weeds. In reality, the principle of “survival of the fittest” applies. The unwanted plants that we refer to as weeds are in fact plants that are naturalized to the current environment. They establish themselves without any effort on our part, without the need for fertilizers or pesticides.

Choosing to maintain a traditional lawn means signing a lifetime maintenance contract. It means investing time, effort or your pension fund in a maintenance contract, and all this has a significant negative impact on the environment. The same goes for the vegetable garden and for the landscaping.

It is important to understand that using native plants offers a greater guarantee of success. “A leopard can’t change its spots” is a principle that man constantly transgresses and pays the price for. It is an absolute truth which, too often, when not respected, brings costly consequences on all levels. It is a principle that is closely linked to the principle ‘Survival of the fittest’.

Live and Let Live

We sometimes seem to ignore or forget that we are not alone on this planet and that we live in an ecosystem that has been coping very well by itself for millennia.

For our pleasure, for profit or out of insecurity, human beings carry out actions that often have negative impacts on the environment. In the short term, this is not visible, or only to a small extent, but in the more or less long term, nature has to adapt to the damage caused by humans. Here are a few examples:

In the Forest

When forestry companies clear square kilometers of forest, how many moose, deer, hares, birds of all kinds, field mice, foxes, bears lived in these huge areas? Their habitat is completely destroyed. Their food sources too. All these animals have to find refuge elsewhere, where there are already others, thus creating overpopulation and a shortage of food. Other animals are being forced out by competition and take refuge in our cities, where they feed on our garbage, lawns, flowers and cedar hedges. This is a direct consequence of human activity that does not respect the ecosystem.

In addition, the forest has the property of being a huge sponge that retains rainwater to prevent erosion and prevent it from flowing too quickly into rivers. The trees and all the plants in the forest drink a phenomenal amount of water. This deforestation as far as the eye can see turns the land into swampland, increasing the proliferation of unwanted mosquitoes, as their predators have been driven out of their now destroyed former habitat. In addition, all the organic matter and humus in the forest soil, which supplied the trees with food, are no longer used and the fertilizers are lost in the water table and run off into the lakes and rivers, creating conditions conducive to the proliferation of unwanted algae in them.

In the Flowerbeds

In the flowerbeds, we want all the plants to be 100% beautiful, with no eaten leaves, no gnawed bark, no mold and no spots on the foliage. Let’s take an example. If you only have one or two hostas, you want them to be as spectacular as possible. If there are slugs lurking around, your two hostas could get eaten. The problem is not the slugs, because they are part of nature or the ecosystem and serve as food for several small useful creatures. The problem is that there are not enough plants for everyone to get their share.

However, if you have a bed of 15 hostas, even if a few leaves are eaten, the damage will be spread out and the whole will look good. What’s more, if you put a ground cover under the hostas, the slugs will have a suitable habitat and you will be able to enjoy the desired result. Everyone wins. What’s more, if you apply a suitable mulch to the ground under your hostas, the slugs, which prefer to feed on dead tissue, will eat the mulch and leave your hostas alone. By suitable mulch, I mean a mulch that resembles as closely as possible the plants on which you apply it. Forget cedar mulch in this case! Slugs hate it and they will have to make do with your hosta leaves.

A Young Natural Woodland

I like to use the example of a young natural woodland. Today and over the next 75 years, thousands and thousands of seeds from different trees and undergrowth plants will germinate in a wooded area of 10,000 ft2 (100 ft x 100 ft) or 900 m2 (30 m x 30 m). Over 75 years, among these thousands of plants, several will only live for a few years, being colonizing plants, or will serve as food for insects, rodents, deer and moose.

Some trees and shrubs will be damaged by snow or ice. Some of them will die from disease or from too much competition. After 75 years, only around a hundred mature trees, a hundred or so shrubs and young trees, a few ferns and other species of plant that thrive in the shade will remain on the same surface area. So there will be a few hundred plants left out of the thousands that will have grown there at one time or another. And that’s normal!

Nature is generous and abundant and provides what is needed for everyone to benefit. However, human beings tend to be selfish. Each tree that they plant must survive without being broken by a storm, eaten by rodents, affected by disease or devoured by insects. It is important to understand that if we create an abundant and diverse ecosystem in our backyard, the loss of certain plants will be compensated by others and everyone will benefit, without infestation, without epidemics, without the use of pesticides, because there will be room for all living things. A layout appropriate to its ecological niche, sufficiently large and abundant, will attract a significant number of useful creatures (frogs, toads, birds, spiders, etc.) that will naturally control pests.

Everyone Is Entitled to Their Share

It is in this context that everyone is entitled to their share. It is easier to live satisfied with one’s environment while allowing everything around us to live. In this context, the loss of a plant is no longer a loss when we know that it is a gain for a part of the ecosystem.

Nature knows when a living being must make way for something else. In nature, death generates life! A grain of wheat must die to produce a new ear full of grains of wheat. These grains of wheat must die to provide flour for the baker. The butterfly dies after laying its eggs to ensure the survival of the species. The apple is destroyed when it is used to feed us. Life is a multitude of changes, where each being plays a vital role! On the planet, death is part of the life cycle. Life cannot die! Life can only change form. Only the form dies! This is the very basis of the circular consumption process!

This natural principle has allowed me to try to understand why a particular insect is present in large numbers on my plants. Is the insect the problem? Could the insect simply be an indicator of an imbalance in growing conditions? Should I tackle the insect that I find in greater quantities than usual and that is affecting my plants, or find the cause of the infestation?

Patience Is a Virtue

How long does it take for a tree to reach maturity? How long does it take for sandy soil to become colonized by plants? How long does it take for a peat bog to produce the thick layer of peat moss that is so coveted in horticulture? How many years does it take for 10 cm (4 in) of humus to accumulate in a forest? The answer is the same for all these questions: a long time. Years, decades, hundreds of years, even thousands of years in the case of peat bogs.

To Each Their Own Moment

In nature, each type of plant has its own period of implantation according to the state of evolution of the environment. The more evolved the plants, the later they establish themselves in the evolutionary process of nature. A plant that is demanding in terms of organic matter and water cannot live on sandy, poor and exposed soil. On mountain rocks, mosses and low grasses are the first to take root and, little by little, over time, they enable larger plants to find the vital conditions (water and food) through the layer of humus accumulated and created by the first colonizing plants. Nature therefore takes its time to do things properly.

Human beings, on the other hand, have no time! We come into the world and it’s a race to learn everything and enjoy everything in order to feel a certain satisfaction before we die. So to hell with natural timelines! We don’t have time to wait. But since we can’t change the laws of nature, we use tricks to skip stages and achieve the desired result, whatever the cost. Whatever the cost, yes! Sometimes, it can be expensive, in terms of money and time invested in creating artificial conditions that are as favorable as possible for the plants we want to grow.

Creating the Best Possible Conditions

We can help nature create the conditions necessary for the desired plants to be healthy without departing from the main basic principles. By understanding these main principles, we can help nature and use it to ensure long-term results with less effort, but it will require more patience. In most cases, a few years are enough to achieve interesting and lasting results in our developments. In our hectic lifestyle, we often hear the saying, “Time is money”. In environmental horticulture, it’s: “Time is a guarantee of results, it’s a long-term investment, it’s a virtue”.

The objective, in terms of the environment, is to put back into the hands of nature what belongs to it, i.e. plants. It will do the work it has always done. We can encourage this process by creating a “natural patchwork”, but we will never win by ignoring it or doing things differently.

That brings to an end the observations that have helped me to facilitate my cultivation practices. They say that growing old means acquiring a certain wisdom. It has to be so, because the loss of physical capacities forces us to reinvent ourselves, to take care of ourselves and above all to listen to our bodies. There is only one thing that doesn’t grow old when you garden, and that’s passion! Having to put it aside because I was no longer able to experience it was not an option for me. So I found a wonderful and faithful helper who will never let me down: nature and its unchanging laws!

I hope that these texts on natural principles can help you to fully experience your passion!

Happy gardening!