Biodynamic Gardening

Biodynamics – A holistic approach

As we mentioned earlier, keeping the farm in balance is the essence of biodynamics. For you as a gardener or allotment holder, these principles are still valid. We may not be able to make our own preparations or keep farm animals, but we can keep our own animals and we can keep our plots in balance with nature and the cosmos by applying lunar gardening principles and by using biodynamic preparations.

So here are some of the do’s and don’ts of biodynamic gardening:

DO:

~ Acknowledge that energies coming from outside the planet earth have an effect on all life on our planet (if you have ever tried to sail against the tides, you know what I am talking about)
~ Use biodynamic preparations to keep your soil ‘alive’
~ Look at your garden, allotment and soil as a part of a bigger web of life
~ Get to know the plants which are growing on your plot and use them.
~ Make fertilizers from nettles and comfrey, use horsetail to draw fungi back where it should be (in the soil rather than the plants) and observe what is going on and how plants develop from seed to plant, changing shape, being fertilized and going back to seed again.
~ Work with nature rather trying to dominate it. Use biodynamic open pollinated ‘demeter’ seeds instead of Hybrids (see links page )
~ Be creative in the way you lay out your patch
~ Enjoy your connections with nature

DON’T:

~ Reach for the Round-up or slug pellets! (even if it’s very tempting when you lose your seedlings to hungry slugs) see podcast for details of pests and don’t believe it when people tell you that Round Up is really safe to use!
~ Add artificial fertilisers as they deplete the soil.
~ Take it all too seriously
~ Follow anything without asking questions

You don’t have to follow this approach blindly, – it’s a methodology, not a recipe! I encourage you to make your own observations to connect with the rhythms of nature.

One way of getting to know Biodynamics better is by trying it! There are biodynamic study groups and biodynamic gardening groups all over the country where you can find like-minded people to discuss biodynamics, stir the preparations and apply it to your land.