Gardening has several levels. Plants can grow commercial quality produce using parts of only the first two. The remaining five levels enhance growth, production, nutritional and physical quality, resilience to disease and insect infestation, climate hardiness, antioxident levels, seed quality, flavor, and mineral content, and can shorten time for maturity, increase shelf life, reduce need for watering, and improve resistance to freezing.
[1] ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION Light and heat have an obvious effect on plants. Permanent change cannot be made without one or the other. Using different colors of shade cloth or exposing plants to special frequencies of light can affect plant growth and response. Seasonal timing of or exposure to light and heat can also affect plant growth and management. Electrical and magnetic influences must also be studied, for they have powerful influences as well. Check out these videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmjIA90PLOU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVL6tfGhr8M. Study these subtle yet powerful natural influences.
Here’s one example: If you have a short growing season (because of the cold) you can extend the time considerably without using a stove to heat the area. There are a variety of options besides constructing a greenhouse: Cold frames and hot beds, hoop houses, cloches and hot caps, floating row covers, etc.. You can research to understand the differences. Here’s one place to start. Just putting a single sheet of plastic over your crops can give you up to an 8 degree (Fahrenheit) advantage. But a double layer (like a floating row cover over a bed in a greenhouse can result in a GROWING TEMPERATURE that is equivalent to three zones south! This is like someone in Maine having the temperature of Georgia for his plants during the winter. But we always have to keep in mind that these seven levels are all interactive and interdependent. You will see what I mean in level [2].
[2] INORGANIC ELEMENTS Air, water, and minerals are essential elements for plant growth. Miracle Grow and the Mittleider Method have demonstrated that plants can take care of themselves if the soil has all the minerals needed, plus proper amounts of water. This is elementary gardening, and the customary level of hydroponics (some types of hydroponics also use parts of [3]). Plants can also get a great percent of their nutrients from the air, so air management can be critical.
In [1] above we talked about using a hoop house over a bed that is in a greenhouse during the winter to keep the plants from freezing. They won’t die but they will not grow, unless something else happens. If there is not a flow or circulation of air the plant will quickly use up the carbon dioxide (their breathing air) and have nothing to work with for growth. So we have to get creative to make sure their is a fresh supply of CO2 rich air.
But these gases and inorganic elements can be affected, enhanced, and their benefits to the garden magnified or manipulated. The more we acquaint ourselves with them them more we will learn how to maximize their usefulness to specific crops or to affect the plants or produce in more favorable ways.
[3] MICROBIAL LIFE Another level of gardening involves the nutrtuing of microbial life in the soil to assist the plant at root level. Though the plant roots can digest the minerals on their own, they can also absorb the exudates the microbes make, which is ready-to-eat food, saving the plant a great amount of energy and time. Also, some of the microbes, called mycorrhizae, infect the roots, but in the process can increase root absorption up to 10,000 times. Since microbes thrive on carbon-based food, the use of organic material is a serious component. An excellent website to check out is mycorrhizae.com.
[4] ELECTRICAL CAPACITY Plants, like their human counterparts, operate on an electrical system as well as chemical. Watch this interesting experiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGLABm7jJ-Y. So we as gardeners should also concern ourselves with ion exchange. Whatever increases transfer of ions increases the electrical capacity of the soil. And whatever benefits the electrical capacity of the soil helps enervate the plant. There are several ways this can happen: by proper mineralization, companion planting, the use of the EGW System (involving layering different qualities of soil with a layer of rocks—see http://suncountrygardens.com), and the use of biochar (charcoal infused with nutrients and microbial life—http://egenindustries.com/testimonials/), to name a few.
[5] LEAF UPTAKE Studies have been made on how quickly plants can absorb nutrients. By using radio-active tagged phosphorus and potassium to view the uptake and transport of ions, a notable plant researcher Dr. H.B. Turkey found plant nutrients moved at the rate of about one foot per hour to all parts of the plant. But he also discovered that thouh uptake by roots is about 10% efficient and can take hours to reach all part of the plant, leaf efficiency can be as high as 95% and can take just minutes. Thus was born a system dubbed foliar feeding (feeding plants through their leaves. https://www.dutchmaster.com.au/?language=english&page=growers_guide&topic=foliar_feeding.
[6] SOUND Plants have been shown to also respond to auditory stimulation. Dan Carlson was one of the early pioneers, but not the only one by far! Testimonials abound with amazing results of feeding plants through their leaves while certain frequencies are being played;– http://originalsonicbloom.com/testimonials.html. Other experiments have been done using just different styles of music. The results were very interesting. http://www.dovesong.com/positive_music/plant_experiments.asp
[7] SPIRITUALITY Another level, though rarely touched on in gardening manuals and courses, is the relationship plants have to the gardener’s spiritual health. The Bible makes several observations about this. The ground was cursed by Adam’s sin (Genesis 3:17). All nature groans while the earth’s stewards continue to rebel against God’s authority (Romans 8:22). Yet whe people turn to the Lord, and are eager to do His bidding, the land is blessed, as well as the domesticated creatures under his care (Deuteronomy 28:1-13).
Gardening is a system by which man cooperates with Nature and Natur’s God to assist in the growth, production, and quality of harvest of both plants and people. It is designed to also illustrate how the heavenly Gardener works with mankind to make us productive and beneficial to those around us (Exodus 15”17). The closer we get to using all seven levels of gardening, for the growth of both plants and ourselves, the more fruit we will be able to produce for God’s glory (Isaiah 61:3). We have a lot to learn!
