If I had started my garden at almost any point after 1940, I likely would have fertilized it with bagged chemicals from the store. These products come with clearly labeled dosages of the three essential plant nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Without this trinity, my starter garden would be a stunted garden — or a cemetery.
Initially, I’d been willing to experiment with chemistry. There’s nothing “natural” about a vegetable garden, after all; my patch would be the product of thousands of years of human meddling. But a few calls to green-gardening evangelists convinced me that spreading synthetic fertilizers is now considered roughly the equivalent of spanking a child: bluntly effective, but verging on criminal. And definitely not something you want to do in the front yard. These products work quickly but their effects don’t last, and they have a dirty habit of trickling into waterways.
Many farmers in this area look down upon those who are still using synthetic fertilizers, as well as chemical weed killers, of course. Leni keeps two compost piles so that she will always have compost available for use. She doesn't add chemicals (she might use nettles as an activator), and she only puts in raw food (cooked food attracts rats). She also has been experimenting with weed drying (versus burning) so that she can use the weeds as additional compost. She keeps a large tarp spread open in the meadow, throws the weeds on top to dry in the sun, and flips them every few days to make sure all of the roots have dried out completely. One Englishman Matt and I met who has been living in the Dordogne claimed that he had seen people (anti-growers, it seems to us) equipped with the pump and pack familiar to all weed killers spraying along walkways or in front yards, slaughtering imaginary beasts. Surely a manageable compromise can be reached.
