Seed soup or trying something new!

Mmmh, ok, so not the most catchy title for a blog post but I honestly don't know what else to call this.

A few weeks ago I had an open morning when about 20 people came to visit our garden and see how we grow veggies in the heart of the suburb. While chatting a friend mentioned someone who says the most natural way to grow vegetables is the way nature grows when left undisturbed.

I have been thinking about this idea and wondering how I can implement it in the garden. I know nature has been disturbed to the point where the balance in the ecosystems needed to copy nature. I also will never be able to truly replicate the food forest movement that I so admire.

Anyone who grows vegetables also know that a lot of what we do in the veggie garden, is not planting and harvesting, but keeping the bugs and disease and weeds away from prospective food until you can reap the benefits of your hard work.

So the basic idea from nature is that birds and other animals come along and eat the fruit and as they fly they drop seeds through their poop. There is no form to this, they just move from one fruit bearing plant to the other, eat and move on. Of the seeds that are dropped the fittest will survive to full production. Some may be eaten off as shoot by another critter, others will die but in nature there is enough left to sustain the next level of life. Alongside them will grow other flower producing plants and "weeds".

The simplest thing I could come up with was a seed soup kind of idea and am going to do a little experiment. I currently have two bed empty and have not decided what to plant in them because I didn't follow my very good garden plan. (I think I am about to give up on planning like this, it never happens in real life like it says on paper!)

Here is how I proceeded with my seed soup:

Choose your seed mix - I have lettuce, tomatoes, radish and coriander to start.

Cosmos was sown next to the bed.

Put them in a bucket with a bit of compost 

Mix it all together well.

Sprinkle it all over the prepared area as evenly as you can, then gently rake back and forth with your fingers.

Water well and wait to see what happens.