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Embracing Syntropic Planting Methods In A Suburban Garden
How To Bring SYNTROPY Into Your Life. (No, It’s Not A Yoga Pose…)
We are just one small step away from total abundance – bad soils and scarcity of water are human perceptions, not nature’s.
Ernst Götsch (The father of syntropic farming)
What Is Syntropic Farming?
If we are to believe Ernst Götsch, (and the successful reforestation of his farm in Brazil means we probably should), syntropic planting is the solution to our gardening headaches.
Syntropy means the convergence and coming together of things. Syntropic planting has at its core the spontaneous complexifying process of nature and life itself.
The syntropic planter, whether they are farmers or simple home gardeners, embraces planting without heavy machinery, pesticides, chemicals, and other commercial measures employed by conventional planting.
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In TURN, Syntropic PLANTING RELIES HEAVILY ON PRUNING.
Pruning causes a plant, most commonly a fruit tree, to release chemicals into the ground that alert other plants and motivate them to start growing.
How Can I Apply Syntropic Principles In My Own Garden?
Syntropic farming falls under the umbrella term of permaculture, and it means you can embrace the ideals of a kitchen or market garden in your own backyard.
It allows you to take a step away from traditional views of what a garden is, and how it should look.
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Lawns Are So Last Season.
A flat, bright green lawn that’s mowed and weeded every week, inedible exotic trees and flowers that need much more water than indigenous species and a gardening style that relies heavily on pesticides and chemical plant foods is anything but syntropic.
Stop mowing and watering your lawn
Look into indigenous grasses, meadow flowers and other ground coverings. You’ll save time, energy, and money by no longer spraying your grass with expensive chemicals and you will enhance your garden’s biodiversity by allowing your lawn, or at least a part of it, to “go to seed”.
Embrace the Bug’s Life
Bugs can be your friends. Ladybugs, despite their sweet look, are notoriously predatory and will eat most of your regular garden pests.
Butterflies and bees are pollinators, earthworms are good for your soil quality. Woodlice are harmless unless you live in a wooden house, and larger creatures like frogs and indigenous birds all help to sustain and maintain a living garden ecosystem.
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Get acquainted with companion planting
Once you get into syntropic planting, you’ll realise that plants don’t just react to how the gardener treats them and what environment they are forced to grow in. Plants actually react to how they are incorporated into the whole biosphere of their environment.
Understanding what works together will not only help your plants thrive but also improve your soil quality and water use.
For a deep dive into indigenous and sustainable planting, visit the link below
The Indigenous Gardener web magazine South Africa
Also, read how Cornel Strydom turned a barren piece of land in the Karoo into a lush syntropic garden.
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Read more in our latest Digital Magazines!
Johannesburg
Pretoria
Cape Town
Durban
Vaal Triangle
Bloemfontein
