Boat access gardening on a rock with no soil #1

Until I visited the north shore of Georgian bay, I took soil for granted. When we purchase our property the best spot for a garden was bare rock. That didn't deter my reserve to have a garden and so began my search for a sustainable way to grow biomass.

I experimented with companion planting, square foot gardening, no dig French intensive method etc.. these all had their use but they weren't dealing with my lack of soil. It wasn't until I found out about biomass mounds aka huglektur and learned about Forest Gardening principles that it occurred to me I could mimic the forest floor by making sure never to add the soil directly to the rock bed.

Our first year was difficult. We had no running water and burned so much good wood, branches and grasses that my heart sinks every time i think about all this carbon I could have sequestered. But I didn't know better. We now have unlimited water supply thanks to our off grid energy system but the garden needs very little watering.

Now I am always on the look out for dead wood, I make my compost, gather lakeside grasses and still have to order hundreds of soil yearly. The garden gets bigger and yet is easier to manage from one season to the next. The quality of the biomass is improving and so has our lifestyle. We just added 6 new panels to our system.

Over the years, I've developed a method for gardening on a boat access rock. I look forward to sharing my step by step approach with you next.

Thanks for reading.

Keep being a blessing. Xx