Getting Started Organically
start with the basics

Environmental Issues
legal and practical

Edible Garden
for food, drink & medicine

Trees & Shrubs
Mother Nature's way

Traute Klein, biogardener
Webmaster's background & work

The above photo shows me preparing trees for transport home after digging them up in a ditch which is legal in Canada.

Related Articles

The Old Woman Who Walks Close to the Earth
Spirit names describe our purpose in life.

Tune Your Ear to the Earth
People who are tuned to the earth recognize each other.

Amazon Books

More Environmental Gardening
Books at Amazon

Why Environmental Gardening?

by Traute Klein, biogardener

Why am I talking about environmental gardening rather than about organic gardening? Organic methods are changing and the word no longer stands for the principles to which I hold. Environmental gardeners look to Mother Nature for guidance and inspiration rather than to other gardeners.

My Background

I grew up learning in a country where holism and natural remedies have been an integral part of daily life. My father taught me the same principles of gardening which my ancestors taught their children. My mother instilled in me a love for the harmony of nature.

In the turmoil of post-war deprivation, my family survived on nature's surplus, and I gained a lifelong appreciation for natural living, holistic healing, and environmental gardening.

I have practiced environmental gardening methods all my life. When I was disabled in a motor vehicle accident in 1983 and had to give up my career as a teacher, I found solace in the Garden of Eden which I created on our city property.

Why Biogardener?

In Europe, natural gardening methods are called "biological." With my background in European culture and languages, the term "BioGardener" suggested itself to me because it is understood by speakers of many languages. When in my Graphic Arts class I was asked to create a business outline for a company, I used the name for the first time. On Internet forums, "BioGardener" became my cyber-signature. It is easily found in all search engines.

Natural Gardening

I consider my form of gardening as the original form. It was practiced by our ancestors on every continent, and it was the only form of gardening in Europe when I grew up, learning to garden hand in hand with my father. It was not until after World War II that synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides were introduced in Germany, brought there by Americans in order to "improve" local food production.

Twenty years after later, Germans rebelled against methods which were not in keeping with their traditional holistic views of life, and the country experienced a great surge toward biological farming and gardening methods. The term biological indicates their return to natural methods.

Organic Gardening

Many North Americans have been practicing unnatural methods of gardening and agriculture for so long that they have forgotten how to do things nature’s way. When they started to return to a healthier lifestyle, instead of going back to the ways of their ancestors, they invented organic substitutes for the methods to which they had become accustomed. Being so used to spraying pesticides, it did not occur to them that pests can be eliminated by simply switching to natural methods, by creating healthy soil and by companion planting. That is how our ancestors did it, and that is how I still do it.

Environmental Gardening

Organic gardeners reject poisonous pesticides, but they concoct sprays with natural ingredients, e.g. garlic, cayenne, or rhubarb, or they import beneficial insects to combat the damaging ones. I cannot be bothered with that kind of fussing, but prefer doing things nature’s way. My main principles are these:
• A healthy environment will produce health plants.
• Healthy soil is the best protection against pests and diseases.
• Healthy soil needs constant improvement.
• If plants are chosen with diversity in mind, companion plants protect each other.
• Plants which are adapted to local conditions will hold their own without being coddled.

Learn by Doing

I learned gardening by doing it, and not by watching others. I can only share with you what I know from experience and from experimenting. The French only have one word for "experience" and for "experiment." I like that.

© Traute Klein, biogardener