There are gardens and there are gardens . Fern and Cleve Campbell , long metre Piedmont Master Gardeners , have develop awesome edible and decorative gardens on their place that are a will to the beauty of aboriginal ecologies and the effectiveness of the latest regenerative agriculture technique . They have been kind enough to agree to takeGarden Shedreaders on an enlightening historical tour of how they have done it .

How It All Started

Both Fern and Cleve grew up in gardening folk , doing garden chores and nibbling veggies off the vine at very untried ages . Fern ’s mom was also a canner and got Fern interested in food preservation when she was a small lady friend . They kept their early training die from the start of their marriage . Living in a cottage on a larger estate , they convinced their landlord to allow them to till a small vegetable garden in commutation for planting her an asparagus bed . They start their plant from seed , using a light take over from their fish fish tank , and remember buying a chest freezer as one of their first “ furniture ” purchases .

When they moved to their current place in 1985 it had no vegetable garden . During their first year there , they established an herb garden near the back door and enlist a neighbor with a tractor to assist clear an country for a garden planned for the next leap . That space became the current “ upper garden . ” Fern take that they canned 50 quart of whole tomatoes and 56 quart of tomato juice during the former year .   She evidence this by moderate the records in her Garden Journal . Talk about following best practices !

How It Has develop

The upper garden ( boast photograph above ) criterion just shy of 5,000 square feet , a big plot for most home gardeners . It includesmany rowsand wide-cut beds , as well as two row of asparagus , each 38 foot long , and a 38 - foot - long raise bed which they cover with shade cloth for summer bread , and with clear plastic for wintertime greens .

But Fern and Cleve feel they call for more garden space for melon vine and potato , so in 1988 , they started the “ lower garden . ” This plot has enlarge over the years and now evaluate another 10,000 + square pes . ( I had to see it to believe it ! )

In the mid-90s they planted a 1400 square - foot “ yield garden ” where they grow strawberries , raspberries , blueberries and blackberry . Disease contract some of the works over the years so they get rid of the sick plants , covered the soil with compost and leaves for three year and replanted this twelvemonth .

build the Soil Has Been cardinal

The ground on their ground was originally compacted red clay and included some wet area that were dull to dry , delaying spring planting . in front of their time , the Campbells added compost , leaves and straw to build constitutive matter and loosen the soil . Their practice until a couple of class ago was to get in truckloads of partly moulder leaf from a local commercial composter and mulch their bed after planting in the leaping , and then tilling it into the dirt the next springtime . In gain , they added compost to the muddle when planting . The result was a steady spiritual rebirth of their red clay into the rich , black loam we all stargaze about . Since they ca n’t get the leafage ware any longer , they have turn to stubble as their chief mulch , which they total liberally , six inches thick , and are satisfied with this result as well .

Till or No - Till

From the mid-1980s until 2016 , the Campbells mulch in the fall to protect their grime and tilled the garden every spring . They started hearing about handle cropping and “ no - till ” in 2012 and 2013 when Cleve and Fern respectively , take the Extension Master Gardener preparation course . They started cover cropping , but guess that no - till was for the big farmer , they keep tilling . However , the information supporting the benefit of no - till was surd to ignore . ultimately , a soaked spring in 2016 that made tilling impossible , convinced them to give no - till a try .

Despite palpate the need to till to kill surface weeds and spoil up the filth , they recognized that tilling breaks down dirt texture and social organization , can bring dormant buried weed seeds to the control surface , and actually lead to more compaction and runoff over the course of the growing season . In addition , tillingharms the stain life ( bacterium , fungi , protozoon , invertebrate , etc . ) that makes soil nutrients accessible to plant , and its resulting aeration causes a surge of immediate fertility at the expense of long - condition military reserve .

So , in 2016 they cut back a cereal grass rye whiskey covering craw to the ground , let it rest for two week , and planted immediately in holes , rows , or whatever the harvest demanded . They have been no - boulder clay ever since .

What They ’ve Learned

The Campbell philosophy today places soil health at the top of the priority list . The primal elements let in :

Over the past few years , the Campbells have become convinced that a no - till garden requires less lying-in , weeding , lacrimation , and digging than a conventionally - tilled patch . They recommend selling the cultivator and replacing it with a broad crotch .

What They farm Now

The current crop roster include over 40 varieties of tomatoes , blistering and sweet peppers ( a mix of heirloom and hybrids ) , and Kennebec , Red Pontiac , and Yukon Gold potato . angelic murphy and butternut squash are grown in substitute years , due to space requirements .   They also raise various type of yellow and zucchini squash , a variety of cucumber vine , sweetened corn , jade green beans , lima dome , edamame , okra , Mexican husk tomato , eggplant , peas , artichoke , carrots , candy Allium cepa , bulb common fennel , melon vine ( both Citrullus vulgaris and cantaloupe ) and ground cherry . Drying beans let in black polo-neck , red kidney , pinto , and cannellini . twilight crop let in broccoli , cauliflower , Brussels germinate , Asian cabbage , collard greens , kale , garlic , and multiplier onion . Perennials / biennial admit rhubarb and cutting Apium graveolens dulce . They care to examine a new crop each yr ; this class it is sesame .

In addition , they grow strip show of pollinator industrial plant in the garden , and just installed a new , mostly native , wild flower plot of ground near the upper garden . These flowers plus inter - planted Fagopyrum esculentum attract good wasps and other pollinators .

Pest Management

Their doctrine is to avoid pesticides and manage rather than carry off pest , permit some damage . Specific recitation include :

Using garden garden truck

The Joseph Campbell make out fresh yield and veg and harvest twelve months a year . They also can beets , a variety of peppers , pickling cuke , okra , yield jams , jellies , whole tomato plant , love apple and veg juice , vegetable soup , roasted tomato - garlic - onion marinara sauce , and the famous Campbells ’ salsa . They freeze Zea mays , lima beans , and peas , opt frozen to canned . They work sauerkraut and dehydrate a helping of several crop , let in tomatoes , beans ( black , crimson kidney , pinto , cannellini ) , and some fruits . While they deplete some of their harvest , they generously donate to food for thought cant and protagonist , and avidly fight against food waste ( I went home with a corner of garlic , onion plant , marinara sauce and salsa after our interview ) .

The Ornamental Garden

While the veggie gardens are the most notable feature , ornamental plant life are interspersed around this very attractive attribute . The exposure above shows a pond garden they installed that allow for a quiet , shaded spot to relax at the death of a solar day of horticulture .

In the early class , the decorative gardens were populated with the pop plants of the day . latterly however , they have been adding native plant almost exclusively . Favorites let in butterfly stroke weed ( Asclepias tuberosa ) , aromatic aster ( Symphyotrichum oblongifolium ) and Christmas fern , all of which are deer - insubordinate .

Lessons learn

Given their plenteous and very successful life of horticulture experience , it makes mother wit to ask them for their good advicefor bothnew and experienced gardeners .

For new gardener :

For all gardener :

Where do they go from here ?

As Fern and Cleve have receive older the work imply in keeping up with such a gravid band of garden has become a challenge , and at some point will be impossible . So they are attempt to cypher out how to downsize reasonably . However , as theysaidrecently , downsizing   “ is so incredibly hard after working so hard to amend the soil . ‘ Therapy ’ may be needed . ”

In any case , we thank Fern and Cleve for sharing their knowledge , ism , and amazing garden with us . It seems appropriate to end the write up with one of their favorite quotes by Alfred Austin :

“ The glory of gardening : hands in the dirt , head in the sun , heart with nature . To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body , but the psyche . ”

That passably much sums it up , does n’t it ?

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