My friend has got me in on a newish thing from her organic market gardening boss - its called No Dig Gardening, so something like that. That is the principle anyway.
So on Weds I get a big pile of cow manure which I have to put on the designated space and then cover it with cardboard. At some point I think i also need to put on some compost from the recycling centre and again cover with cardboard and put stones on said cardboard to hold it down. Then by the spring I can start planting. It turns out this method means that the weeds don't come through because actually weeds, or at least the seeds of weeds, are encouraged to grow by the whole process of digging. Occasional ones do pop up but one just pulls them out. And also this method can be planted continuously for a whole season, then covered with compost again and then it all starts all over again.
We were talking about it all this morning as I was trying to plow through another Christian self help book (oh that sounds like a contradiction in terms - surly it is God how is meant to help us. Hey ho!),this time on finances. I must admit I think the guy who wrote it may have some issues.
But as with so many of these Christian inner healing books there is a lot about digging and weeding out things. Now I have done some inner healing stuff and know I have gained a lot from it but I do wonder if at times we dig too much.
I know with my garden if i put this manure over a huge thistle or nettles then they will poke through and I will have to pull them up first. In fact my friend has been working hard pulling things up, old plants, weeds, etc before she puts the manure down. I'm putting mine on grass so no big deal there.
But yes we do need to pull out the big weeds in our lives. But once we have covered ourselves with Jesus, the blood of Jesus, the Cross, and waited for a season then we can be ready to be planted and to produce a crop of 30, 60 even a 100 fold. But if we keep on digging once we have put Jesus on we rake up things that actually just by being covered with Him could've been killed.
I also think so often we bring people to know Jesus and then expect them to start producing straight away but like this method maybe it would be good for us all to wait for a season to just be covered and then we would be so much more effective.
Also with this method even though it produces so much more than the digging/weeding method it cannot keep going forever. There has to come a point where it is left to just lie under the compost, under the covering of Jesus.
Interestingly in a lot of the readings I am doing on mystics, Celts and other great leaders, they very much saw there lives as a rhythm of resting with Jesus, going out and being productive, resting with Jesus. And this resting was not something fitted into their schedule it was a real time out.
I wonder why we are so afraid to just take time out and rest under Jesus? I wonder just how much more productive we could be?
Quite agree. Oh by the way you will probably get seeds growing from the manure so not entirely problem free but still better than digging any day.
ReplyDeleteI like this Diane. You say,
ReplyDelete'...if we keep on digging once we have put Jesus on we rake up things that actually just by being covered with Him could've been killed.'
So true. I should try this method in our garden that I am trying to sort out.
I'll keep you posted on the garden. And thank you for your encouragement X
ReplyDeleteFortunately the cow manure is so well composted I have had no trouble at all from weed seeds- horse manure tends to be weedier. Charles hasn't had any weeds from his, either. So no worries there :-)
ReplyDeleteIn the Spring you can add some Dimmer compost and then plant straight into it, so no need to cover with more cardboard. I don't think I have taken you to my allotment yet - you must come over for more lunch and soothing and I'll show you what we did.
Forgot to say, it isn't a newish thing - Charles has been doing it for 28 years!
ReplyDeleteAm I being too pedantic?!
No you are not being pedantic. Thank you so much for sharing all that with everyone not just me. Hey perhaps you could do a whole blog on it.
ReplyDeleteI must say I am just excited about it both from a practical thing and because of the whole spiritual side of things too.
And isnt it interesting how something that has been going for 28 years or more hasnt yet made main stream!!