The Subtle Side of Gardening Column

9 July 1007 Addendum:   L. writes ".. due to our late April hard freeze as well as moderate drought conditions, insects have been prolific this year.   I am amazed at their adaptability.   The only crop we have that's been damaged is squash (stem borers) and earlier the brussel sprouts (but they froze & re-grew & then got too hot...unhappy).

I think the biggest difference has come from a shift in my attitude away from control & towards cooperation & focus on what a plant needs to be happy.   We have not used one single insecticide & I doubt that I'll ever use one again. (the only ones used last year were organic)  

If I do see an insect or signs of on a plant I first look at the plant, 'asking it' what it needs.   Then I am using only teeny amounts (homeopatic-like) of the proper nutrient or additive with the intention that the entire bed &/or crop be nourished & healthy. I've been keeping the whole process light & playful.

I've also commited to tithing 10% of all that's grown to the insect kingdom.    And when I do see an insect dining (like the recent couple of tomato worms) I remove it, branch & all & place it out in the brush without killing it.    Then, I contact the deva of that insect & ask that they take no more than the 10% given to them in exchange for their lives.

Ok... so as I type all this it suddenly sounds absolutely wacko (laughing) .... but it's working! :) And yes, I talk to the insects saying things like " If you will leave these plants alone so I can help them be happy there will be more than enough for ALL of us."

Now... if I can get the WEEDS to listen to me!

L. Writes:   Insects!   Gardening would be much more fun without them...though I understand it would also be impossible.   Where does one find balance?   I personally don't believe in killing anything, yet if a mosquito lands on my back I swat it.   We only use diatamaceous earth or neem oil sparingly, but even then I am concerned about killing the beneficial insects.

I have read of those who 'control' their entire yard & garden by contacting the Devic world and bargaining with them. I think I should be able to do that, too, so I give it my best shot. The next day I find a few more holes in the vegetables or find a tick or 2 crawling on me (yuck!). And even though I hate seeing ticks on me it still hurts to kill them. So am I somehow unintentionally inviting insects to dine on me or my garden? Or is the general balance of our yard/gardens upset? And what is the spiritual significance of using natural/organic pesticides? And yes, we are planting insectary garden plants as quickly as we can.

Chris :

First , I want to make a distinction between insects in our yard and real "insect problems".   Oftentimes, insect-plant associations may not lead to good looks  for the plants, but it certainly does them no real harm.    So in those cases, we need to think about our ego and what we are asking. If we are relying on vegetable or plant crops though and they are being decimated by insects, that is a "problem" we will want to think about addressing to find balance.

Like you , I too see insect problems more as an imbalance that is needed to be reset between the insect kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdoms and the Earth energy there ... and then we are a smaller part of that mix/balance as the human kingdom.   If we look at it in this way, as a dispassionate balance between all the kingdoms and elements , then we are approaching the problem in a more holistic way and will get more holistic results.    I would think the Devic community will be more likely to work with a holistic plan and in that case, numbers might even count as much as if not more than size.    As in, how many are there of we humans , how many of plants and how many insects, etc.

"Control" , no matter how nicely or uniquely it is done, is still control.   We are here to learn about balance, aka compromise, aka partnership - and when we cannot find that, we tend to turn towards controlling things. So I think you are warring with yourself in trying the Devic approach but finding it doesn't work, as really, your intention is purely to balance, not control.    So you are  getting what your heart truly and deeply desires.   Now, if we could only learn the basics of gaining a good compromise!    Easier said than done!

Let's start with the stars of this show for you, the plants that you are hoping to gain harvests from.   First, I looked at plants in your garden that did not have any major insect woes. Specifically I looked at the happiness flow for them - within this one focus is a wealth of detail that tells us about soil conditions for the plant, sunlight , water and their situation with the Earth.  These plants, which grow well for you and have no pest problems of any consequence have a nice open flow with happiness. They are vibrating their strength and happiness outwardly - I think of that as invisible waves that emanate outwards, even down in the soil from their roots. Picture a sphere of light and happiness rolling like steady waves from a plant in all directions, both below and above the Earth.

In fact,   I could split each plant into 2 parts and check for happiness :   their below ground parts and their above ground parts.   Often times if I am looking at a plant's overall happiness dynamic it may be off slightly, but that may be an average  of the roots being very stressed while the above ground part of the plant is fairly happy.

If a plant is not happy, it's going to vibrate that outwards too of course. And the insects, fungus and bacteria will be picking that up because they have radar for this.   That is part of the natural balance of life and they are merely being who they are in honing in on that.        In a situation where no humans are avidly expecting any production from "their" plants, weaker plants are systematically taken back to the level of becoming food for the life that will be there later.   And we consider this to be the perfect , divine cycle of life.

So, the question we might want to ask is how do we make our plants happy?   This is more on the pathway of forming partnerships.    Can you see neem oil as part of this happiness in partnership quotient? According to the flows, the ramifications of applying pesticides - even organic ones - is more of a control measure than a partnership measure. So you are truly astute in asking what the spiritual significance is of using things to fend off pests instead of to strengthen the plants and the situation itself.    Using them is , as you may imagine, not going to yield the balance we have placed ourselves knee-deep in the midst of this challenge to work on finding! It may work temporarily but in the process, because it is not helping set a true balance it will erode the balance even more, making for potentially greater and deeper concerns down the road.

This raises an interesting question overall for farming and growing practices today where, without some format of insect and fungus control most farmers would be out of business. Can the problem of balance be this invasive and so far from being truly tackled en masse?    Absolutely.    Just because 95% of the growers are using control measures doesn't mean there can be no way to balance. We need to begin working on this en masse though and we need to think about what it may mean. Sometimes it may mean that some crops simply will not perform well where the growers wish to place them- so this is a tug of war with human ego. Another crop would perform well there though so it is not a losing situation. But the right crops for the right places need to be a staple undertone concern.   Shifting into a masse balance for the growing industry would also mean setting our internal beliefs to see insects as the VIP's in helping us shift into more balance - and not as the emotionally charged wreckers that they tend to be seen as by most growers. It's definitely not  emotional to the insects , fungus and bacteria....they are simply doing their job in existance.  If we have emotional problems over this, then who is the likely candidate for needing to change, we or the insects? Yet we are projecting onto the insects every time we do things to control them. In my yard I work under the belief that for every  single garden challenge there is a lesson in balance to be learned.  It can be learned, but only if I am willing to be taught.

You don't mention any specific types of ailing plants here, so I will just take a look at the plants that did the worst in your garden last year.  Only you know what those plants actually were, but I am able to pick up their vibrational signature so I don't really need their human name.   What I am finding is a very large and active flow lock with happiness overall - but a really virulent unhappiness for these plants is showing at the roots. This indicates that soil was a large part of the problem for these plants.   I am seeing a decent flow for these plants with the Earth spot they were situated upon so that is not the main concern.

But I am also seeing that the actual seeds themselves which began these plants were not of the highest potency/ life force - and that makes a great deal of difference in how a plant reacts to it's environment.   If we begin with poorer energy force, then we have to make sure that all the other conditions are correct...and if they aren't, then balance is not going to be achieved and the cleaning crews will be coming in to take care of things! This is all a good balance - but it's not our desired outcome.

Below I offer some physical items we can begin to employ in partnership with our Earth spot and all who balance upon it. Beyond these, which are really only the basics, I also suggest tuning into your area and sensing what other things might be desired from a more subtle level like mineral kingdom placements or even sunrise /sunset stillness moments where you intuitively pick the right time of day and the right places to sit and simply "be" a part of the warp and weft of the life energy flows there. While there your undertone goal would be to sense out whether your being there is in flow with the rest of your "neighbors" there as if you were a permanently rooted part of that spot.  I find personally that this can be a very potent tool of awareness.   After all, we usually tend to walk in and walk out...but the fact that we can walk doesn't make our energy flow there any less important (or less permanent) in terms of balancing with the whole of our yard.    Because we are transient in any one spot of our yard, however, we tend not to think about the fact that we truly are already in vital partnership with our yard!   Bringing our full attention to this can shift flows remarkably in and of itself!  This will likely shift things inside of us, making us better able to hear the physical needs of our yard.

So the litmus test is, can we place ourselves anywhere in our yard and feel like we fit in?   And if not, why not?

Soil Amendments

Here are a few good ways to improve soil if you find that the plants are having root challenges.

One of the first is to think about improving your worm ratio.   Coffee grounds are a great way to both feed nitrogen to your plants and to feed the worms as   they adore coffee grounds!    Placing a small amount of grounds around plants will encourage worms to travel on up to feed, thus aerating the soil for plant roots, not to mention enriching the soil with their castings.    Worm castings are recognized as one of the most effective all-natural soil amendments. Practicing vermiculture is also a great plan if you find that the percentage of worms in your garden soil looks low. As well, 5 pound or larger bags up of worm castings can also be purchased to help gently and fully feed plants that are stressed right now.   This is truly like black gold.

Using Mychorrizae for certain plants like roses, perennials, and vegetables is another large way to work with the natural cycle of micro-biology in your soil.   The microbial life of the soil in any given area will tip toward either a majority of ANaerobic microbes or Aerobic microbes. The aerobic microbes are called into soil that has good mineral content, plenty of organic matter and good oxygen.  Aerobic microbes use oxygen as they consume organic matter and minerals, in the process creating what plants need in the forms they can use it well.   ANaerobic microbes, however , can thrive in compacted or low oxygen soils and they give off ammonia and methane gas. These gases attract insects as much as do the plants in this soil who are giving off unhealthy vibrational waves.

Adding organic matter as an ongoing yearly staple is one of the best investments we can make for healthy soil and healthy plants.   If you know of organic dairy farms, you might ask for manure. If you know of other farms in the area who have organic byproducts , you might ask them if you can pick this up for them. Organic grass clippings are a great source of mulch, but first let them dry a bit. Pine needles, spent hops from breweries and peanut hulls are other possible sources.   You would want to know the pH of your soil so that you have a basic idea of which organic matter to mulch with - for instance, if you have a more acidic soil you would ideally use mulches that would tend towards being more neutral or alkaline and less acidic.   There are so many wonderful on-line resources to study for more info on this and all other formats of soil health.    You might find some good reading by googling "soil aerobic anaerobic" .

Wishing you and your yard well in finding a healthy , happy balance!

Resources:

Bio-Green, Inc. (biogreeninc.com), Dave Ellis and Jim Keith
"Secrets to Great Soil" , Elizabeth P. Stell

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