海角大神

ROSIA, ITALY 鈥� For years I have admired my Italian neighbors鈥� vegetable garden. It鈥檚 a shared plot, enclosed by a wire fence (they don鈥檛 have moles, as I do back home, but they do have wild boar) and bordered within with irises and flowering chives.

Like many Italian vegetable gardens, some of the plots also have a series of crisscrossed saplings over the beds that the tomato plants can lean on and beans and other climbing varieties can crawl up.听

But this year, something was different. Two of the plots were scattered with straw not only along the walkways but also over the beds.听

When I asked my neighbor Ahrata about it, she sent me two doors down in the old stone farmhouse to speak with Bashir LaMaestra. He is the neighborhood鈥檚 garden master, and not simply because of his last name ("maestro" is "master" in Italian). Almost every evening, he can be found out in the garden in a straw fedora, working away.

Turns out, last year he decided to experiment with a gardening technique called 鈥�.鈥澛� It was based on the work of a Japanese master , who wrote 鈥淭he One Straw Revolution.鈥� The technique was to European climates by . (Our garden blogger-in-chief Judy Lowe tells that permaculture is a favorite among many organic gardeners.)

The gist, according to Bashir, is fairly simply: Replicate the natural processes that produce such rich soil in a forest.听 聽聽鈥淭he leaves fall, they rot, and this layer, which gets bigger and bigger, becomes more and more fertile,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ecause there are worms, caterpillars, and other creatures that work through it, it also remains aerated.鈥�

The straw spread over the beds takes the place of leaves, but you can also use grasses, the stalks of last year鈥檚 plants, or whatever is organic and rich in nutrients 鈥� including the straw that this year lines the walkways. Covering the beds with organic material also helps preserve moisture, which is critical here in Tuscany, where, despite the magnificent and apparently lush landscape, it can get very hot and dry during the summer.

Two other things are also key: 鈥淚t鈥檚 very important not to step on the ground, you want to preserve the air within it,鈥� says Bashir. 鈥�Emilia Hazelip also determined that it was very important not to stir up the soil, which is the contrary of what we have been doing traditionally for centuries.鈥�

Indeed, Bashir doesn鈥檛 even yank out the roots once plants have finished their season.听

鈥淵ou leave the roots in the ground as much as possible because they鈥檙e very rich and nourishing for the soil,鈥� he says. 鈥淎gain, it鈥檚 contrary to what we鈥檝e done for centuries. But then, it鈥檚 not necessary to fertilize because the garden bed fertilizes itself naturally.鈥澛�

For pest control, Bashir simply soaks nettles in a tub for about a week or so. The result, in short, is water that stinks. He bottles it and sprays it on the plants. Then he uses the soaked nettle stalks聽along with聽the straw on the beds.

鈥淚nitially, the transition to using permaculture takes some work,鈥� Bashir adds. 鈥淏ut then you let nature take over.鈥�

As a newbie gardener, I was in awe. It all makes such perfect sense, and the proof of its success was evident in the rows of thriving green lettuce, red strawberries, radishes, peppers, and tomatoes.

The challenge once I get back to my greenhouse will be to see if I can adapt some of the Bashir鈥檚 organic techniques to my own raised beds 鈥撀� provided they survived my abandoning them for Italy just as they were getting started!聽

Note: You can read Alexandra Marks's previous post on her Italian adventure - Abandoning the greenhouse for a trip to Tuscany 鈥� by .听