My 96 Year Old Great Grandfather’s Gardening Secrets

In this blog post, I want to share with you five gardening lessons that my great grandfather taught me. My great grandfather lived in India, in a state called Punjab. He was born in 1912 and passed away in 2008 at the age of 96. He lived a very fulfilling life and was very content. He never cared about money and lived a life connected with nature. I never met anybody who was as carefree, content, and happy as him.

Lesson 1: Caring for the Soil

My great grandfather always talked about caring for the soil. As a fertilizer, he always used manure. The great source of manure in India is cow manure, which is a great way to add organic matter and nutrients into your soil. Over here, I use cow manure along with horse manure that I get from my neighbors. It's a really good source to add organic matter and nutrients into your soil. I also make my own compost by using green and brown material.

My great grandfather had a pile of cow manure, which he would keep adding to the back of the pile and keep taking from the front of the pile. He did that to age the manure. Now, I use cow and horse manure that I get from my neighbors, and I age it for nine months. The microorganisms love it and earthworms absolutely love it. Organic matter makes the soil living. My great-grandfather used to say: take care of the soil and the soil will in-turn take care of the plants.

Lesson 2: Growing Food the Natural Way

My great grandfather always talked about tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantaloupe that tasted absolutely amazing, and I would ask him why it's not like that anymore. He would always say it's because of the use of chemical fertilizers. The use of chemical fertilizers began in India in the 60s and 70s. That's when the farmers heavily started using chemical fertilizers. The chemical fertilizers boost the growth of the plants and make the fruit and vegetables bigger, but it dilutes the taste. He would say this is not the natural way the fruit and vegetables want to grow. So, when I first started gardening in 2008 I wanted to replicate the taste that my great-grandfather talked about. I started looking into organic gardening, started to make my own compost, and the first two years were brutal. I couldn't grow anything. My house had compacted clay soil in the backyard. After creating my own compost, mixing it into the soil, and making raised beds, I was able to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables, and they tasted amazing.

Lesson 3: Companion Planting

The third lesson my great grandfather always talked about was companion planting. He would say certain plants work really well together, while others don't. He said plants are like humans too. Sometimes, you get along with somebody, sometimes you don't. If you don't, just keep your distance. He said to plant garlic with almost anything in winter. He would grow garlic with peas and potatoes, and he would harvest potatoes and peas and leave garlic in the ground because garlic matures until June. He would plant tomatoes and eggplants in March and April, and the garlic was already in his garden. Garlic is a natural pest repellent. He would also plant corn and beans together. He said certain plants work really well together, and others don't.

Lesson 4: Crop Rotation

My great-grandfather always said not to plant the same crop in the same place year after year. He never planted tomatoes and corn in the same place the following year. Now I know why. Plants have varying nutrient requirements and contribute to the soil with different elements. Planting the same crop in the same area year after year depletes the soil of very specific nutrients. For example tomatoes and corn are heavy feeders of nitrogen and if planted in the same place will result in nitrogen deficiency in the soil. However, peas and beans add nitrogen in the soil. So by rotating crops, farmers can avoid depleting specific nutrients and promote balanced nutrient levels in the soil, leading to healthier and more productive crops. Crop rotation helps maintain and improve soil fertility by diversifying the types of crops grown in a particular area.

Crop rotation also disrupts the life cycles of pests and diseases that are specific to certain crops. By alternating crops, farmers can reduce the build-up of pests and diseases in the soil, minimizing the need for interventions.

Lesson 5: Beneficial Insects

My great-grandfather always said: A farmer only needs three friends, ladybugs, earthworms, and honeybees. It makes sense! Ladybugs eat the inspects that damage plants such as aphids, earthworms help to make organic matter in the soil, and honey bees pollinate the flowers to produce fruits and vegetables. My great-grandfather was really passionate about having a catch crop, and his favorite crop to grow was sunflowers, which he called "Suraj Mukhi" in Punjabi. This phrase means "facing the sun," which is a fitting name for this plant since the sunflowers tends to follow the sun's movement throughout the day.

One of the reasons that my great grandfather loved sunflowers so much was because they are very useful in controlling pests. Sunflowers produce a lot of sap, which attracts insects such as aphids. Ladybugs, in turn, are attracted to these insects and will often be found on sunflowers. In addition, to helping control pests, sunflowers also have other benefits. They can help remove toxins from the soil and are a good food source for bees and birds.

I have followed in my great grandfather's footsteps and bought a 20 acre land to establish an organic farm and grow food the way nature intended. By growing organic produce and encouraging others to do the same, we hope to live a natural and fulfilling life, just like my great grandfather did.