Growing French Intensive
Dennis Sage in his Takaka vegetable garden. Photo: Sol Morgan.
There are lots of different methods of gardening to suit the individual, soil and climate. Finding one that suits your situation is the trick.
I talked with a local friend of mine, Dennis Sage, about his gardening journey and thought I‘d share it.
It began when Dennis returned from overseas travel in 1982. His desire to grow healthy food was catalysed by health troubles and the feeling that he was poisoned. He later learned this was Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
So in a suburban garden in Lower Hutt, Dennis started his first organic garden.
“I was largely inspired by John Jeavons’ book, How to Grow More Vegetables. Jeavons called his method bio-intensive gardening, which came from a combination of two methodologies: the French Intensive method and biodynamic gardening”.
Both methods work on the natural observation that soil wants to be covered. This is because most of the life in a soil is in the top few inches. “It’s based on the idea of working with nature, not against her,” says Dennis.
However, it wasn’t until he was working for an organic shelterbelt nursery in the Bay of Plenty that Dennis became more serious about growing vegetables.
“I was able to grow vegetables on a much larger scale using my bosses’ equipment and land in exchange for some vegetables. I also supplied the local community with produce.”
Later in Auckland he worked for a rehabilitation organisation that helped street kids gain life skills. Dennis’ role was managing the five acres of organic garden while supplying the Auckland market and endeavouring to educate the kids about organic growing.
In 2000 Dennis and family arrived in Golden Bay. It wasn’t long before he became involved with the Community Organic Garden in Takaka. Dennis grows crops for the family table, and other crops for “value-adding” in his own retail products. For example, he grows a big crop of garlic to use in hummus and all his pickles. Chillies are grown for sauces and chutneys. Gherkins are grown and preserved using lactic acid fermentation. Most of his products are now sold through Golden Bay Organics.
He explained what is different about French Intensive gardening.
“As the name suggests, crop planting is concentrated,” says Dennis. “I plant following a hexagonal or diagonal pattern. Each crop has different spacings (eg broccoli 40cm, beans 20cm) depending on their eventual size. There are several advantages, including weed control. As the crop grows, there is little room for weeds. It also makes hoeing easier by alternating in several directions.
“When I start a new bed from scratch I usually double-dig (ie digging down and lifting subsoil up to the surface and adding compost, thus making twice as much topsoil). Once beds are set up, every year I simply fork them through to aerate them, remove weeds and add compost to the surface.
“Beds are about 1.2 metres wide, which makes for easy reaching. They’re raised 10 to 20cm high, which helps with drainage, soil warming and ease of root growth.” This wouldn’t suit those on sandy soils, Dennis says.
After the bed has been forked, he then hoes it several times to kill young weed seedlings. Dennis reckons he eliminates 80 per cent of potential weeds this way.
Along with topdressings of fishmeal, he uses liquid fertilisers of seaweed or fish. Protecting the soil is important too, he says. “I use weed mat (either Geosil or Scarecrow brands), which lasts two to three years. Because a lot of the beds have oxalis, using weed mat has enabled me to keep growing when otherwise I would have given up.
“I’m a pretty lazy gardener really,” he admits with a smile.
Weedmat saves hugely on labour. For example, $50 for a 50-metre roll from Rural Service Centre reduces hours spent weeding (garlic weeded five times a season equals five hours per five-metre bed). Dennis does say that weed mat and other synthetic mulches need to be well managed, otherwise they can become a problem. He lifts and tidies his away after every crop.
Microklima clothe and cloches can also be used with good effect, he says. Microklima is put over bare soil when sowing seed direct like carrots.
“It keeps the birds and cats off, keeps it warmer and moister, which aids germination.” He also puts it over broccoli, etc, in January and February to protect it from cabbage white butterfly. Chillies and eggplants are cloched with it to help them grow and mature later in the season when frosts may occur.
He also uses leaky hose when it’s really hot during the summer to provide gentle watering.
Dennis recently held a workshop on French Intensive gardening at the Community Gardens. If you’re interested in experiencing this for yourself, he’ll happily run another. Contact him on 525 7099.
Sol Morgan
