Life Supports Life, Symbiotic Relationships In The Garden
Yesterday I made a daily snap about how I like to approach things with a whole system perspective, rather then breaking things into fragmented pieces. In that video I mentioned how we are looking to create a system that supports all life, so today I wanted to get further into that.
When gardening with nature, the goal is to create beneficial connections or symbiotic relationships, where the life within the system takes care of other forms of life.
That is why I love to use a thick wood chip mulch, because the mulch provides the perfect scenario for life.
With the mulch down; moisture is retained, temperature is better regulated, weeds are suppressed, and we are constantly feeding the soil. That is all well and good, but the wood chip mulch also brings fungus’ in to break down the wood chips and convert them into bioavailable nutrition for our plants.
But the main thing that the mulch does is create an ideal environment for that fungus to come in and form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of plants called, the mycorrhizal association.
In the mycorrhizal association there is a symbiotic relationship where the roots of plants connect into the roots of fungus. When this connection is made the plants are able to provide the fungus with sugars which it makes during photosynthesis. While the fungus is able to provide the plant with things like water or nutrition if necessary.
The mycorrhizal association is one of the things that really got me fascinated, and into gardening when I first learned about it. The relationship helped to hammer home the point in my mind that everything is connected, even if we don’t realize it. And life supports life, when things are in harmony.
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Paul Stamets goes so far as to claim they transfer data back and forth as well.
Would it be excessive to blanket my entire half acre in wood chips, even if it's not a garden yet? Cause I would really love to have mushrooms everywhere instead of grass...
"I would really love to have mushrooms everywhere instead of grass..." now has my vote of best steemit comment to date 😂 I love that idea! More wood chips pls!
I did some math on it all in my most recent post. A project of exhaustion and excitement lol
Moar mulch pls!!!
We'll probably not mulch the entire yard. But I'm going to mulch a large area under each tree. We have a lot of trees, so that'll help a lot with the mowing. I have a tiny push mower and a half acre yard. Entirely too much work. Lol
he's made so many great vids on....and i tried to find the one where he lays down construction paper first...cause it's a great first step before the chips. perhaps he can find it. :) this one is sooo good!
That was actually the first video of James's that I ever saw! Feels like forever ago, but was probably only about three months.
Paul Stamets is brilliant so I believe him lol.
No, I don’t think it would be. If you don’t put it thick enough though and pull some of the early perennial weeds the section could get taken back over by grass.
You can put down thick chips and get king strophoria mushrooms and “seed” the spores in the wood chips.
oh man!!!! pricless in-formation!!!!!! SYBIOSIS!!!! LIFE! "The mycorrhizal association is one of the things that really got me fascinated, and into gardening when I first learned about it. The relationship helped to hammer home the point in my mind that everything is connected, even if we don’t realize it. And life supports life, when things are in harmony." soooo good!!!!! re steemed ...with great pleasure!!! one of your best snaps yet...please please please keep them coming James!!!!!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it brother!!
Thanks for the resteem and for commenting too. I love engaging 😁❤️
Yaaas! Thanks for sharing this, Paul Stamets is da man and fungi is the net holding this planet together. I am starting to think that to save the world we need to support the bees and the fungi, what grows and flowers above needs roots below, and myco roots are everywhere, ready to connect and communicate.
I will be keeping the woodchips in mind, awesome idea and great insight to the symbiosis here. Also all the comments in this post were very nice to read as well 😊
Keep up the amazing work, I love your channel.
Yes! I agree my friend. The things we think are of little importance end up being, just as important as everything else. Nature is a perfect system, it’s craxy to think we believe we are smarter IMO.
Glad to hear that! I am here to provide value and encourage others.
Starting to garden is one of the best choices I have ever made 😁👍
@gardeningchannel, Wow...You've great connection with Nature. Everything we want to do protecting nature. You give smart tricks for gardening field. I felt strongly it my mind. Thanks you introduced different kind of factors to the community.
Thank you @madushanka! Gardening and sharing it with others is my passion. So yo share my little tricks and viewpoint on nature is my pleasure.
I appreciate the kind words 😁
@gardeningchannel, Great Information and why i am calling it great because, in my opinion many people who do gardening or do the process of Plantation miss these kind of deep Knowledge and sometimes may be plants face the Decaying Phase. But you've explained this process practically and really effectively because sometimes words gives difficult time for the Visualisation but practical knowledge hold the more effective impact. Keep up the great work brother.
Wishing you an great day and stay blessed. 🙂
Great idea. To create life from life. I never heard some a term, but it is a nice idea. We knew what kind of soil is good for plant, the fertile soil. And fertile soil usually has fungus, or dead leaves or dead plants and little animals. But to call it a life soil really give a fresh idea for gardening, in my opinion. Sorry, maybe my English is not that good to discuss about this, haha