"Hippie Gardening"! I had never heard that phrase until a good friend used it to describe a method of gardening he had come across during a shopping expedition. Perhaps he knew it long before but he mentioned it when telling of the vegetables and fruits at a market. Hippie Gardening was the words he used to describe the habit of using co-planting or at least that was the way I understood it. Co-planting or companion planting is a nifty idea about planting flowers or other aromatic plants in the vegetable garden to cut down on pests. This goes on to knowing which plants do well as neighbors or which do better far away from the others. The idea of planting flowers such as marigolds and nasturtiums around vegetables that are attacked by bugs is an old one that many folks had forgotten. In recent years, there has been a huge resurgence of planting "old-style" and that is a good thing. "Back in the day", folks did not use insecticides or chemical fertilizers so companion planting was a method that came in handy. Knowing which plants would tolerate being next-door neighbors and which preferred to be off by themselves was a necessity. Another long-forgotten bit of good farming was crop rotation. To keep the ground from becoming depleted of certain nutrients, crops were never planted in the same spot year after year. Crops were rotated to assure that nutrients were replenished before replanting. For instance, Pop would never plant peas in the same field year after year. The pea rows were alternated with other crops and after harvesting, the dead stalks were plowed into the soil to replenish the used nitrogen. Plowing old plants of any kind into the soil added organic matter and kept the garden soil from becoming too hard. Methods such as these can go a long way in having a healthy garden.
At first, I giggled at the term "Hippie Gardening" but then I realized that I was snickering at myself. I do companion planting. My gardens are filled with vegetables, flowers and herbs. The tomatoes are grounded by marigolds, the bell peppers are best friends with the basil plants and the cucumbers were in love with the nasturtiums! Not only are there flowers in the vegetable plots, there are vegetables stuck in the flower beds! The whole garden space is one mishmash of plants...but they are happy plants.
I never thought of this as any certain "type" of gardening, I just followed along with what Pop taught me as a kid back on the farm. It worked then...it works now. It is all a matter of knowing which plants can coexist and which are detrimental to the others. Getting back to some of the old ways is not all bad no matter what it is called. Co-planting, Hippie Gardening, Commonsense....whatever works.
I have a nephew who calls me his Earthy Crunchy Aunt. I take this as a compliment merely because Erik is one of the nicest young men and I feel certain that he would never say anything to hurt my feelings. I think this description has something to do with my more "back to simpler times" lifestyle and, if so, then I suppose the title fits. I do try to live a simple life. It pleases me to do so. Here lately, I have sort of reverted back to my younger years in certain areas. I did a lot of things during my teenage years that are all the rage these days. The homemade soaps, cast iron cookware and homegrown food (which I look at as necessities) now make you with the "in" group. Good thing..I have never been "in" before in my life!
As I was sitting on the front deck trying to cool a bit, my hands were working on a macrame plant hanger. It was nothing fancy being just a few knots that I recalled from my teen years. Macrame was a huge fad back in the days along with tie-dyed shirts and braids. I had forgotten a lot of the knots but, being bored, made me start working on something that sort of fit right in with that Earthy Crunchy bit. The project reminded me of my high school days. Most days could find me with a mass of cords tied around my jeans leg just above the knee. This was so I could tie friendship bracelets during class whenever our teacher was not keeping a watchful eye! Yep, it seems as if these types of activities all come full circle. Macrame, itself, is making another show in the craft world. The wonders of knot-tying will once again captivate me and projects will spill for with a vengeance! Earthy Crunchy Auntie is here to stay as she channels her inner hippie days!
