It’s glorious.

Red-breasted parrots and green lorikeets are making the most of it by feasting on my pigeon pea (a clever plant that puts nitrogen back into the soil), the veggie patch is growing like a teenage boy, my driveway has stopped hosting waterfalls and the humidity is palpable.

Thankfully this wet season hasn’t been as intense as last year’s, but we’ve still had a good dose of water from the sky.

Now, I’m first to admit I don’t actually do very much in my garden other than sit, read, write and eat. That’s the way I like it!

A strong part of my personality likes to maximize any activity I do, and I’ve found just after rain to be the perfect time to get tasks done with ease and great effectiveness.

Apart from traipsing mud through the house, there are two activities that go hand in hand with wet weather at my place. I recommend you play with them too, if you want a low-maintenance, organic veggie patch.

The first time-saving task is weeding.

I’m not a big fan of weeding. It goes against my natural sensibilities. I’m someone who likes to focus on the big picture. In fact, I can go weeks without being bothered by dirt in the corner of the room or a shower screen that needs cleaning.

Ever since I was a kid, I haven’t taken a lot of notice of things being out of place, and perhaps it helps when it comes to getting all messy and creative as an artist. I make a mess, then focus all my energy on cleaning up once the work is complete.

Weeding is the same for me. I like to deal with it in a creative frenzy of focused energy. Meaning, when I get the weeding bug, I jump outside and get to work.

And there’s no better time to do it than after heavy rain, when the soil is soft and I can easily pull them out. The cool thing is, this method makes it far less likely they’ll grow back again, provided they haven’t gone to seed, since it’s easier to make sure you get the whole plant pulled out by the roots.

Yesterday was a weeding day.

In fact, it was only a weeding half hour.

That’s what I like about doing jobs in ‘batches’ of focused activity. You get a lot done, and your efforts are maximised for long-term effect. So get out and pull a few weeds next time it rains at your place, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and effort.

What’s the other activity that’s important after mucho raino?

The second is feeding your soil (also known as fertilising )

For years I didn’t know this, but rain ‘leaches’ nutrients from the soil by washing minerals and nitrogen away.

It’s a bit of a paradox really; the rain has nitrogen in it, giving the plants an instant hit and growth spurt, but once it stops, the nitrogen in the soil can be drastically depleted.

Which leads to stressed and hungry plants, who are more susceptible to pests and disease.

To combat this, yesterday I threw around chicken manure for a nitrogen booster, and added compost to the beds where I was replanting leafy greens, celery and eggplant.

I also scattered rock minerals around all the beds to make sure there were enough minerals in the soil. Because if the soil ain’t got minerals, your food doesn’t either. So make sure you add minerals to your soil.

Fertilising after rain is good gardening practice, and will mean less work and pest control in the future…. a stitch in time saves nine!!!

And how did I get the fertilising job done? With my favourite landscaping tool of course!

So next time you’ve had a dose of wet weather, get outside after the rain stops and invest a short time weeding, then give your plants some nitrogen-rich organic food.

Everyone will be happier and healthier for it.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to hear your experiences and get a glimpse into your garden. In the comments below please share any tips for weeding or fertilizing, or jump right in and say ‘hi’!

And remember, if you liked this post, please ‘like’ it and share it on social media with your friends.

Have a great week! I’m off to LA for a weekend workshop with the lady who taught me how to do all this wonderful online community stuff herself, Marie Forleo. So I’ll see you next week when I get back with fresh ideas and no doubt lots of inspiration for a fantastic Sprouting year!

Love,

Nicola xxxx

By boosting my plant’s ‘immune systems’, I’ve found a balance where I no longer loose entire plants to pests’ hungry mouths. Instead the pests graze and help ‘prune’ the plants, which keeps the plants growing back.

If, however, I notice a garden bed is getting more than it’s fair share of caterpillars or grasshoppers, I take that as a very useful indicator showing the soil is deficient in nutrients in that bed.

To fix it, I put handfuls of quality compost around the base of the plant, cover the compost back over with mulch , give the garden a dose of liquid organic fertilizer (I make my own! It’s very simple: cover weeds with water in a bucket, soak for a week or more – dilute about 1 part to 5 parts water in a watering can and pour the mixture on) and finish the process off by scattering a handful of rock minerals over it all.

Violia! It’s like a Berocca for plants…  giving them back their b-b-bounce.

And VERY soon I’ll be host­ing my acclaimed, fun, and prac­ti­cal online gar­den­ing course ‘The Abun­dant Veg­gie Patch Sys­tem’. Are you on the waiting-list? Make sure you’ve signed up to be first in line and learn more as soon as I get back from LA in Feb­ru­ary.

How have you man­aged pests in your gar­den? Share your ideas in the com­ments below so we can all grow our green thumbs together.

Have a great week and thanks so much for tuning in!

xoxo Nicola

And if you haven’t already gotten in on the free seed give-away, I only have 8 more packets to before they’re all gone. (I really didn’t expect such an enthusiastic response!) You can grab your free luffa seeds by filling out the survey here.

Ok, now onto the burning question that came through from the survey…

How do you manage pests in an organic garden???

When you’re beginning a garden or see your favourite plant attacked, it’s the first thing on your mind.

In this video, I explain the mindset you need to achieve organic pest control by thinking about it as an ‘emergent property.’

.

.
Creating a low-maintenance, organic veggie patch is about putting a number of systems in place to create an abundant garden where there’s plenty of food to go around and pest populations don’t explode. We’ll cover more practical how-tos in next week’s Sprout.

And VERY soon I’ll be hosting my acclaimed, fun, and practical online gardening course ‘The Abundant Veggie Patch System’. Are you on the waiting-list? Make sure you’ve signed up to be first in line and learn more as soon as I get back from LA in February (yes, I’m going to LA! ~ but more about that later).

How have you managed pests in your garden? Share your ideas in the comments below so we can all grow our green thumbs together.

In today’s special first video for 2012, I’ll share my vision for the next year of Sprout!, plus I’m giving YOU a gift.

I’m giving you a bunch of my favourite seeds from my personal ‘seed bank’ to help you kick 2012 off with a new fantastic, multipurpose plant.

This surprisingly useful plant will give you:

+ Masses of all natural bath and shower sponges (they are nature’s perfect exfoliate!)
+ Easy to grow vegetables that are more resilient but just as delicious as zucchinis, for all your roasting, stir-frying, steaming and even ‘raw’ pleasures.
+ Beautiful, big bright yellow flowers to increase the beauty and colour in your garden.
+ A unique talking point when friends come to visit!

Once you’ve watched the video, click here to take the simple + fast survey and get your free packet of luffa seeds (including directions on how to grow them).

In the comments below, tell me what YOU are inspired to create this year in your garden (+life!) or tell us your favourite plant to grow.

Thanks so much for tuning in, and Happy New Year! It’s going to be a great one!

Nicola

xoxo

PS. The Abundant Veggie Patch System will be opening again soon. Jump on the waiting list to be first in line for this fun and comprehensive online gardening course, complete with live Q&A calls and personal garden reviews.

In this video you’ll learn four simple, but important tips about how to make a pond that attracts beneficial insects to your garden.

You’ll also see 2 practical ideas about ways to make a temporary pond; perfect if you are living in a rental property and don’t want to cause trouble with your landlord by digging up the back-yard.

In the comments below, share your biggest insight you learnt from the video and how you can put it into action in you garden today. It doesn’t matter if you’re renting, or owning, living on acreage or have a balcony garden, these principles will work for you!!!

:::::::: Special Heads Up Announcement ::::::

My new friend Laurie Erdman is running an online program to help people who suffer adrenal fatigue to help them ‘Get up and Go’ in 2012. Laurie was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and since then has worked hard to learn a new way of eating that gives her more energy than ever.

Laurie and I both share a passion for gardening and good food, so I thought I’d share what she’s up to with you. If you’re looking for some awesome, caring guidance and support for a healthy lifestyle in 2012. Click here to learn more about Laurie’s Get up & Go program.

I’m taking a couple of weeks off over the holidays, so I’m wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year and I’ll see you in January for more Sprouting goodness. Plus, I’ll be hosting my acclaimed online gardening course again soon after I return, so be sure to jump on The Abundant Veggie Patch System waitlist and be first in line for all the news.

If you’ve enjoyed today’s video, please remember to share the fun by telling your friends and spreading the word through social media.

Happy Holidays!!!

Love,

Nic

They will help you get rid of pests by being your voluntary work-force, munching on delectable entrees such as aphids, caterpillars and grass-hoppers without you so much as having to pay them superannuation or sick leave.

But before you go rushing out to install your pond, watch the video below to learn…

3 tips that will help you maximize the effectiveness of your handiwork as well as save you time, effort and sleep!

.

Click here to tweet the ‘tweetable’ from this week’s video:

Tweetable: “How to get rid of pests, organically”

Before you go on your merry way for the week, what’s been your experience with ponds? Have you had frogs at your place in the city? Share you experience in the comments below!

Thank, as always, for tuning in, tweeting, liking and commenting. I am encouraged and so ridiculously happy every time you interact and share. Thank you!

Have a great week.

Nic xx

PS. Next week you’ll get ‘How to Make a Pond’ – it’s juicy, juicy stuff!’

PPS. Making habitat for frogs is one of the most satisfying things you can do, ever. See you then!

“Ok, Ms. Chatham. Please press the paperclip into the tiny hole, then turn off the modem.”

“Ok, it’s off,” I say.

“Good. Now keep pressing in the tiny hole and wait for ten seconds. Keep holding. Keep holding. Ok. Now please switch on the modem again.”

“Ok. It’s on.”

“Now please keep holding the paperclip in the tiny hole, keep holding. Just a few more seconds then please turn it off again. But keep pressing in the tiny hole.”

This process went on and off approximately eight times. The modem didn’t reboot successfully after the first technical aerobics, so we had to do it again. Mid-way through I realised it was kind of funny, despite my bubbling aggravation.

After close to two hours on the phone to the Philippines, trying to fix my internet connection so I could once again upload video, we ended the conversation with:

“Ok Ms. Chatham. I have sent a ticket to tech support to recalibrate your modem. Please allow up to 48 hours to process. Then, check your connection and if it is still not working please call us back. Your reference number for this call is…. “

I hung up. This is about the 8^th time I’ve had this conversation with my internet service provider in the past 9 months, and until the National Broadband Network hopefully saves rural Australians, it probably won’t be my last.

Simply, it sucks. I hate it. I’ve literally cried over failed video uploads and spent close to a full day of my life on the phone trying to fix it.

I’ve felt rage unlike any rage I’ve felt at any other time. I’ve sworn on the phone. I’ve felt my chest constrict with pure frustration. I’ve wanted to give up.

Today, I’d made two videos for you about pest management using frog ponds; edited and ready to go. But for the time being, the videos are stuck on my hard-drive.

And I’m reduced to accepting what is. I can’t do anything to change the fact I can’t upload video today. But there is something I still can do. Text. I can still upload text.

How does my little story relate to gardening?

Sometimes we want to grow something.

We plant it, nurture it, love it, and yet we simply can’t grow it. The conditions just aren’t right. Systems beyond our control are not in line. There’s too much heat, not enough rain, too much rain, not enough sunlight, the dog walks over it, the dog digs it up, the kids’ football match moves into the veggie patch.

Gardening can be a spiritual practice, just as talking on the phone to your internet service provider can be.

A practice in acceptance, and finding the things we can change.

You may not be able to grow pawpaws this summer, but your cherry tomatoes are flourishing, bringing flashes of red dots scattered throughout your garden. You may not have enough space for your fantasy garden just yet, but you do have a corner on the balcony that gets direct sunlight in the mornings for a few hours making it perfect for a pot of basil. You may not have years of experience, but you do have a friend who knows something about gardening and you do have the Sprout community.

By shifting our focus to what we can do, what we do have, and what is working, we can focus our attention on activities and opportunities that will bring more of the results we want.

We always have more than we acknowledge or realise. By being present to our life circumstances as they are now, we can accept them and truly make the most of them.

I don’t really want to move back to the city just so I can have better internet access. There are pros and cons of every place on earth, and nothing makes us aware of them quite like gardening. If we live in the tropics we look longingly at cottage gardens. If we live in cold climates we long for topical fruit delights. Gardening can teach us to let go, accept what is, and take action with what we have.

And don’t give up.

Just because I can’t upload video this week, doesn’t mean I never will be able to again. Just because your beloved crop of silver beet isn’t streaking ahead, or your pawpaws are dropping their leaves, doesn’t mean they always will.

Follow the strategies of good gardening practice by building up your soil with lots of manures and organic matter, keep adding minerals to your garden, keep rotating your crops, and keep planting a diversity of plants.

Focus on what is working, do more of that, and enjoy eating the fruit of your labour.

It really is the only way to keep going and enjoying what you’re doing without throwing the phone on the floor and swearing off internet for life. Or perhaps that’s just me…

What is working well in your garden right now? Share your success stories below!

[Here’s a little sneak peak at what’s growing well in my garden now!]

Would you like some help in your garden? Looking for some loving support, tips, ideas, answers or inspiration? I’m offering 3 free 15minute coaching calls next week. If you’d like to grab one, simply email me at info @ nicolachatham.com and we’ll sync up our diaries to work out a time. You can write your hopes and dreams in your email, or simply leave it blank and I’ll get back to you.

Here’s what other Sprouters said about their coaching calls with me:

“Nicola thank you for my coaching call. It sure will help me adjust to QLD gardening; I’ll add lots of organic matter to the sandy soil. Cannot wait to get the links for what to grow; it is so different to Sydney soil & climate wise! Thanks a lot!”

–Sharon – Hervey Bay

“Thank you so much for my coach­ing call this afternoon. I feel so inspired and can’t believe how much you taught me in 20 min­utes! So many jobs to do now: put cow manure in worm farm, get hubbie to build a lit­tle frog pond, put com­post around my basil plants to ‘boost their immune sys­tems’! Thanks a lot Nicola.”

–Vanessa Teklenburg

Drop me an email and I’ll speak with you soon! [No internet service providers required ]

“How have you been?’ I asked, excited to hear her voice.
“Very, um, healthy. Quite, um, lucky.” She said.

She’s just moved to Sydney, and spent most of the year house-sitting waterfront mansions with beautiful gardens, alone.

‘But, not very active.’ She sounded puzzled by this.
“Really? What’s happened?”
“Since I came here, so many of what I thought were my talents have dropped away. Like cooking.” She sighed.

“When I lived in Melbourne,” she explained, “I could assemble gorgeous food, in a flash. When people just turned up, a few minutes later they’d be feasting on millet salad or crepe suzette. Now I realize it wasn’t ME that was a good cook. I’d just surrounded myself with a ‘good cook eco-system’. My organic market routine. Fresh veggies washed and ready to go in tuppaware. Farmer friends who would drop by with radishes or praise. I’m really not very good at cooking and taking care of myself without them.”

“What an interesting observation,” I said (yes, I really did say that, even though it sounds contrived in print).
“But it’s good,” she continued, “because it means when other people think they have no talent for these things, it’s just that they aren’t in the right eco-system for them. We all need the right support around us to flourish.”

I love this insight. It’s the third time this week someone has told me ‘man is not an island’ or words to that effect. And it’s got me thinking.

The third ethic of Permaculture sums it up: Share your surplus.

I’ll give you a bag of mandarins in winter. In fact I’ll give you two bags if you come back the next week. I’ll write blog posts and share what I know…

We bring together a rich, complex diversity of plants, resources, seeds, knowledge and experience if we come together and share. Whatever your surplus is, share it. Abundance is all around us when we share.

It warmed my heart to the core when Deb reached out in the comments the other week and shared her knowledge with another reader. That’s community. That’s diversity. That’s sharing the surplus. That’s what I envision for this site and community we are building together: a place to support and nurture each other as we grow.

Self-sufficiency is a fantastic fiction.

I think focusing on it is unhealthy and unnatural, and frankly, for 99% of us, unachievable. It cuts us off from our community, and that can be devastating.

When I was 12 my family and I lived on a boat for six months.

We sailed to Middle Percy Island, off the east coast of Queensland, on our way to the Whitsundays. The caretaker was an eccentric old English man, a legend in the boating world, who lived alone on the island.

I dreamt about meeting him. I thought it would be marvelous. I pictured a man with scrawny legs and brown, dry, hard skin who clambered over the rocks with a stick for support; tangled grey hair past his shoulders and sharp blue eyes.

He was the closest human I’ve come to meeting who lived a self-sufficient life. But do you know what?

In the clear bay where we anchored, there was a beach shack built for sailors to share their surplus. It was an enchanting A-frame with names of boats who had stopped in there, carved into hand-made plaques hanging everywhere you looked. Plus a massive queen-size hammock made out of coarse rope in the top rafters I remember falling out of.

Tucked in the back corner of the shack was an honesty box and shelves of honey in a larder. We stocked up. A few days later, much to my disappointment at not being part of the adventure, my brother and dad came back to the boat after having met the man himself. They’d bought the leg of an old mountain goat he’d just killed and we had the first roast meal we’d had in months. (It was tough as old boots!!)

Here was a man who lived on an island, and yet he nurtured community. He shared his surplus.

He was part of a broader, transient social eco-system built around his legend and the seasons. Some boaties stopped in every year on their annual voyage up or down the coast.

The term self-sufficient is mis-leading. It implies a strict, puritanical, and possibly deprived existence. I don’t think that can bring out the best in us. Responsibility is a better angle. Taking responsibility for our needs, including our need for and the needs of, our community, is a healthier approach to a well-rounded, fulfilling and environmentally friendly life.

Recognising I have strengths and you have strengths, I have mandarins and you have pecans, I have kale (boy oh boy do I have kale) and you have celery (alas, I don’t); we can share.

I haven’t seen anyone live a self-sufficient life and frankly, I don’t think I want to.

We are social creatures and the very process of giving and receiving keeps us sane, social and grounded. Embracing the idea we are part of a social eco-system is the path to abundance.

The cool think about growing your own food, is you invariably will have a surplus to share.

Be that tomatoes in summer, or mandarins in winter.

By all means it’s worth harvesting water, using resources wisely, growing (some of) your own food, saving heirloom seeds and finding sustainable energy sources, but it’s also important to cut ourselves some slack, and in doing so, empower our community by being part of our broader social eco-system.

No man is an island.

Even if he lives on one.

What’s your surplus? What comes naturally and effortlessly for you? Share it around and watch your life blossom as a result. Plant your surplus seeds and they will grow.

 

Would you like to learn how to grow your own food? I’ll be running my online gardening course ‘The Abundant Veggie Patch System’ again in January 2012. It’s the only organic gardening course of it’s kind in the world, with live Q&A calls and fun, comprehensive video training. Jump on the waitlist and you’ll be the first in line to register.

Learn more about the gorgeous Cecilia Macaulay at these sites:

‘What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m in town doing some shopping; picking up some fruit and veggies.” I said.
“What?! Why? Don’t you have it all in your garden?” she asked.
I laughed.
“No, there’s still a bit of stuff I don’t have. You know, it takes a long time for an apple tree to grow, and I haven’t tried growing carrots yet, so there’s still a bit to get.”

I remember being somewhat disappointed when I saw a local gardener and Permaculture teacher who I admire shopping in the very same store where I was topping up on fresh food supplies. I hadn’t been gardening long, and I’d put her on a pedestal of self-sufficiency.

It’s easy to put someone on a pedestal when we think they are doing what we’d like to be doing. But after the initial disappointment of seeing our heroes fall off the pedestal (which we’ve usually been solely responsible for erecting) it’s actually a freeing experience.

It means we can do something imperfectly. And that makes it easier to get started.

It takes a long time to develop a comprehensive garden. I say comprehensive, because ‘self sufficient’ is way beyond reach of anyone who wants to say, have a career and a life as well.

Jackie French in her book ‘Backyard Self-sufficiency’ says this:

“There’s a difference, though, between growing most of what you eat and growing everything. It is easy to grow most of your fruit and vegetables on about a quarter acre – at least, it’s easy once you get into the swing of it. It is almost as easy to grow most of your own tea, mustard, herbs and spices. But it’s much, much harder to produce everything… Self-sufficiency is as insular as it is exhausting. You turn in on yourself. And there is little leeway for a crisis.“

She goes on to say how she got pneumonia and it was incredibly difficult to harvest all the food in her garden while she was sick.

That’s why I named my course The Abundant Veggie Patch System, and not the Self-Sufficient Veggie Patch System.

I’m only interested in gardening that is fun, rewarding and achievable. Not a chore or stressful, and therefore counterintuitive to the reasons I believe in gardening – for health and joy.

Abundance encompasses more than simply the quantity of produce you grow. For me it also involves all the other elements of my garden that have translated to a healthier, more centered, inspired, and happier life.

The most rewarding things haven’t always been directly related to the quantity of food the garden’s produced. Often it’s been simple things such as:

• creating habitat that attracts wildlife including birds, ducks, frogs, ladybugs, and dragonflies to my garden, enriching my day-to-day in a way I never dreamed;
• always having fresh herbs to add to salads, meals, teas, baths and vases;
• eating rocket and kale that is so crisp and juicy it’s impossible to get the replication for the store;
• growing flowers that enrich my surroundings with perfume, beauty and diversity;
• going on an ‘Easter egg hunt’ amongst the bushes for ripe, red tomatoes;
• seeing my waste reduced and recycled on site through composting it into rich, black soil;
• laying on my back between the veggie beds and staring at the clouds with my puppy beside me.
• Then taking all that inspiration into the studio and painting.

There are steps you can take to be more self reliant. Those steps are beautifully laid out in Permaculture, which, with its holistic approach to living and gardening, takes into account all the elements a system needs to function.

For example:

• instead of focusing solely on growing edible food, you would be wise to also grow plants to produce your own mulch
• you can plant open pollinated, heirloom variety seeds so you can save seed knowing it will grow into the same plant it came from
• you can make your own free liquid fertilizer by soaking weeds or manure in buckets of water (with a lid on is best!)
• you can harvest water whether that be with buckets, tanks, swales or dams; and perhaps most importantly and rewardingly
• you can create a community of people that supports, nurtures and helps one another through the ups and downs of life

In that way, a life and garden that integrates Permaculture principles equates to a feeling of greater self-sufficiency and certainly of abundance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would you like to set up your own Abundant garden? If you’d like to learn more about how I can help you develop a garden to support your health and lifestyle, I’m offering FREE 20 minute coaching calls until the end of November.

I LOVE getting to talk about your garden, health needs, and dreams. To book your free coaching call, simply email me at info @ nicolachatham.com. You can say anything you like, or simply leave the email blank and I’ll get in touch with my calendar so we can sync up a time for your free coaching call.

Thanks so much for reading. It really makes my day when I hear how people are enjoying sharing this Sprouting journey and I love reading your comments on the blog. Have a great week!

Love,

Nicola xx

PS. Wanna take up the 20min FREE coaching call? Just email me back and it’ll be Sprouting in your calendar in no time. You know you want to

Not being keen to spend my Saturdays one-on-one with the lawn mower, I’ve transformed my pathways using a clever, low maintenance method that’s quick, hardly costs anything and looks great (if I do say so myself!). In this video I share with you exactly how I did and and where to get the materials, so you can do it too.

Sheet-mulching is a method I also use when beginning new no-dig gardens, meaning it’s easy to transform lawn into a productive veggie patch without having to even touch a shovel.

I teach step-by-step exactly how I make my no-dig gardens in The Abundant Veggie Patch System  (which I’ll be relaunching the course in early 2012!!! With more goodies, coaching calls and fun ‘organic’ times!!!).

In the comments below I’d love to hear two things from you:

1. How have you made paths in your garden? And out of curiosity…
2. How wide do you like your paths to be?

Thanks for tuning in!

Love, Nicola xx