5 Health Lessons to Learn From Your Garden

Are you working on a garden?

Finding that your crops aren't growing as well as you would like?

I've been mentioning in a few posts and on my Facebook page that we've been struggling this year.

Actually, we've been struggling for several years with our garden, but this year our garden has thrown us a few tons of curveballs.

In fact, the other week, my husband and oldest were away when the final curveball hit and I started crying.

And almost swore I would never garden again.

But I can be stubborn about things — especially when it comes to saving money and “do it yourself” kind of stuff, so I did some research.

And some more.

And I had a few folks come alongside me as well. Some who know a TON more about gardening than I do. One of them I will be introducing to you in the near future.  You will surely want to subscribe to my blog for this one — believe me! Anyway, here's what I've learned.

Our Garden Challenges

We've tried for about 3 years to have a flourishing garden, but the only thing that ever flourished for us was dying zucchini and tomato plants–and greens.

Kale and chard were staples in our house (hence my recipe for Kale Chips) and my husband would be almost giddy at the giant yield we got from the greens each year.

Until this year.

We thought we'd navigated all of the problems in our garden.

We had our soil tested, plotted the sun, calculated where the black walnuts wouldn't get to our plants, built more raised beds and mulched with straw.

We even added llama poop to our garden. (yep — I said llama poop :)!)

But this year, almost everything has flopped.

Even the greens.

I went out to check on the garden 2 weeks ago when my husband and oldest were on a camping trip.

And I almost screamed. (Well, I did yell a little once I got inside my house :(.)

Some bugs had eaten almost all of our kale and chard. And all of the leaves looked pretty peaked.

We went out at night to try to see what creatures might be demolishing our plants.

But we found nothing.

And 4 of our beds of tomatoes were wilting suddenly.

Basically, we only have 2 raised beds that have promising plants.

That's an understatement considering how much time we've spent over the years on this.

I was tempted to give up.

And so was my husband: even moreso.

But several readers and a few experts have given me things to think about.

And I've had an epiphany of sorts about the garden.

If you've been around here for awhile, you know that I've been writing a lot about gut health.

Posts like:

– Candida – What it is and the Beginning of My Sugar-Free Life
– 5 Causes of Gut Dysbiosis
– Busting a Common Gut Health Myth
–Why I Don't Have Fermented Foods on My Blog
– The “Straight Poop” about Probiotics.

And there is more to come.

Well, as I've been learning about gardening, I've come to realize that our guts and our gardens have a lot in common.

5 Healthy Garden Tips

1.  Nourish it

We've talked about how your gut needs nourishing from good food.

Feed your body junk and eventually, things will fall apart. Same goes for your garden.

We did put down some better soil and some of our friend's llama poop. Yep, we have friends with an abundance of llama poop. I have a lot of interesting friends.

Additionally, I got some tips from an expert to try:

– seaweed
– azomite
– greensand

What I'd really like is this worm factory and start putting worm castings in the garden. In fact, the gardening expert I spoke with recommended getting 2 so you have a backup.  Worms really gross me out, but I think this would be a great adventure for my boys!

Oh, and this same expert recommended urine!  I know, you might not be ready to do that, but it is cheapo and you know I've tried using urine for home remedies before. Check out this post and this one.

2.  Diversify

Our gut needs a variety of foods in order for us to be healthy. Especially with today's “nutrient depleted” foods. Our gardens are the same way.

a. Planting the same thing year after year depletes the soil.

We have tended to plant the same thing year after year: especially the greens since we were having success.

I've since learned that this isn't a good idea. For example, tomatoes use a ton of nitrogen so if you keep planting tomatoes over and over again, the soil gets depleted.

b.  Plant different things to avoid infestations

By changing what you plant you interrupt the insect reproduction cycles.

Also, it's a good idea to plant several things in one area to confuse the insect. We tended to go for uniformity, but now I am going to throw some basil and parsley in with my zucchini and broccoli!

3.  Keep Toxins Out

It's a good idea to keep toxins (pesticides, etc.) out of your food and off of your body.

We buy organic whenever we can.

The same goes for your garden.

RoundUp has been linked to many many diseases. Don't use the stuff, and tell your friends, neighbors, and relations to stop as well.

In our case, we grow using only organic methods, but we have these pesky Black Walnut trees that make our job tough. Black Walnuts emit juglone and it can wreak havoc on gardens.

We thought we had our tomato plants out far enough and that the raised beds were good enough, but we found out the beds might need to be taller.

Additionally, just like you should add in good bacteria to your gut via probiotics, you should add things like healthy compost, mulch, and other things to build up the nutrients of the soil.

Back to the drawing board.

We didn't try hard enough to keep the toxins out.

4.  Don't Give Up

We've been working on gut health for awhile now.

We've seen great progress, but there is still a lot to learn.

For a long time I thought I couldn't tolerate fermented foods, which are supposed to be the backbone to good gut health.

I kept getting reactions, but I trying and trying. I can be stubborn about some things.

Anyway, you can read Why I Don't Have Fermented Foods on My Blog to read the whole story, but suffice it to say that I have made great strides in my and my family's health because I didn't. give. up.

We about gave up this time but so many encouraged us to view our failures not as the end, but as part of the learning process.

We've learned a TON in the past 2 weeks and we would have missed it if we crawled in a hole, cried and started heading to the local grocer for our produce.

And we are NOT giving up! This weekend — more llama poop, and planting lettuce, zucchini, broccoli and even some herbs :)!

5.  Don't Compare Yourself to Others

My sons often complain saying “Why do other kids get to eat McDonald's and junky cookies and candy, but we have to make all of our own food?”

It's hard to hear that and yes, it's hard work for me doing all of this cooking (though my son did make his own Chia Pudding this morning and yesterday).

I tell them that they can't compare themselves to others.  We are doing the best we know-how for our situation.

Likewise, we have a neighbor with Black Walnut trees in his backyard. And every year he has a bumper crop of tomatoes.

Why? I don't know.

Maybe he uses chemicals.

Maybe the juglone from his trees isn't that potent.

Maybe it's just luck.

Whatever it is, I can only work with what I have, and press on.

Here's to better Garden (and Gut) Health!

And a bumper crop!

How is your garden growing?
Got any favorite gardening tips to share?